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Do microphyllas need dead heading?
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Posted by juneroses Z9a-Lady Lake, FL (My Page) on Mon, Jun 15, 09 at 15:42
| I have a salvia "Hot Lips" which I adore due in part to the fact that the ruby throat loves it. The Hot Lips came through our colder than normal winter without a brown leaf and was in full bloom when I saw the first hummer on March 30th. When the black and blue came into bloom and became a hummer snack bar, I gave "Hot Lips" its annual severe pruning merely because it was outgrowing its space. This brings me to my question.
The only time I've had to prune "Hot Lips" is to keep it in bounds. It blooms profusely and doesn't need dead heading to bloom or look good. I recently added a greggii to the garden and am already noticing spent stalks which, at least for looks, need to be removed.
Hot Lips is a microphylla (although I see sites that add jamensis or grahamii to the name). Is "no dead heading needed" a characteristic of all microphyllas or just a unique trait of "Hot Lips"?
June
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Do microphyllas need dead heading?
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| It is pretty true of microphyllas, greggiis, and most other shrubby new world sages. |
RE: Do microphyllas need dead heading?
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| No plant ever 'needs' deadheading; deadheading is a need created by those of us who grow the plant and want it to look or grow a certain way. So, based on that I'd answer your question with a 'no.' However, my Hot Lips plants are growing in front of an office building, and every 4 or 5 months they begin to look a little run down, blooming tails off, and I would argue that they need deadheading. They are also too large for their space by this time. I have seem similar things from greggiis and other microphyllas; every few months they need some dead stems cut off to look their best. On the other hand, I have negelected to give them this trimming at times for a year or more and they still look fairly decent, just not as good as they could. |
RE: Do microphyllas need dead heading?
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| The only one I always deadhead is the hybrid Raspberry Delight. It blooms with such fury in June and July that be August it becomes a mess a spent flower stalks. Right now the greggii Wild Things could use some attention for the same reason. |
RE: Do microphyllas need dead heading?
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| I must admit to taking the garden shears to all my mature micros, greggs and hybrids thereof! By mid July-August they are inevitably looking leggy and a rather untidy. I don't have the time to snip off only the older flowering stems and consequently, with a shearing taking off up to 1/4 of the plant, I lose all the flowers for about three weeks. However I am then rewarded with a great fresh showing by the autumn. I've done this for years and the plants don't seem to suffer. Jim |
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