Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
uofmrocky_gw

Salvia Pruning..please help

uofmrocky
14 years ago

Well I just planted some new perennials in my back yard this year. I put in some Royal Candles and some Salvia Veronica Speedwells. My question is about the dead flowers.

On both plants they had beautiful flowers, now the flowers that were there are all gone and the stems kind of look pretty bad. Can I get rid of those old flower...and will new ones grow? Do I need to prune these to get new flowers to grow..or do i get rid of them and if so how?

Comments (8)

  • rich_dufresne
    14 years ago

    Salvia Veronica Speedwells are not Salvias. Veronica = Speedwell.

    I am not surprised that the flowering stem has wilted. Is there basal or axillary growth at the base of the plant?

  • tippybird
    14 years ago

    I am new to Salvia plants, and need information on how to prune them back. I have them in two large container gardens, and in a small garden plot around my mailbox. The gardens were developed by a local gardener so my thumb definitely isn't green. Please let me know descriptive info on how them should be pruned back. They are the Black and Blue variety. I have "deadheaded" flowers before, but have no idea how to treat this stalk-like plant!

    Thanks in advance.

  • hybridsage
    14 years ago

    tippybird:
    Depends on which part of Zone 7 you are in as to timing
    of your pruning. Black & Blue (Salvia guaranitica) is
    Dormant in the winter so prune the stalks back after they
    turn brown.During the growing season pruning can be
    done anytime you want. Either deadheading any of the
    old bloom stalks or pruning back for shaping about 1/3 of the total plant height can be removed.If your daytime temperatures are above 90 I would avoid pruning until temperatures cool. This way you avoid bottom foliage getting burned.As the plant emerges in the spring you can pinch
    new growth as long as it has 3 nodes pinch the top one
    to develop better branching.
    Art

  • wardda
    14 years ago

    Art, up here in the great white north we don't prune our tender sages until spring. "They" say water gets in the stem and freezes but I am uncertain of the real reason. But whatever the reason leaving semi-hardy plants standing, and not just salvias, does seem to improve hardiness.

  • hybridsage
    14 years ago

    Wardda:
    Thanks, you are right(of coarse) all you get to grow stuff up north I can only dream about.
    Art

  • wardda
    14 years ago

    It works both ways Art, it is always the thing we can't grow that seems most inviting. Because of our faily rainy summer and moderate temperatures all the greggii/microphylla are already well recovered from the summer doldrums, it should be an exceptional season for late summer and fall.

  • tippybird
    14 years ago

    Thanks for the replies. FYI, the area of Zone 7 is the Knoxville, TN area. We had a huge amount of rain for weeks, now hot and dry. I had stopped watering due to rainfall, but now leaves are pointed downward, but not wilted. Watering 2x a week (need to do it more?). Will take your advice and not try pruning back. The salvia in container gardens are getting very tall and spikey. The ones by my mailbox are at mailbox height, so worried they'll bother the mailman as he has to reach through them to open mailbox!!!!!

  • hummersteve
    14 years ago

    When a salvia stem is used up turns brown I clip it as I have done this year and new ones sprout. The old spent stems take away from the plant so get rid of it. But salvia coccinea so far do not survive my zone 6 winters nor do sal subrotunda. Just this year for the first time I got a sal. black and blue to return.

Sponsored
J.E.S. Home Improvement
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars3 Reviews
Loudoun County's Full-Scale Construction Firm