I agree, even though I post this from the UK. We have had very strange weather conditions this summer. Two weeks of dark, gloomy days in June seemed to have encouraged the late bloomers to flower 2 months earlier than usual...they may have thought that the daylight was lessening. This sounds great, but the following very hot sunshine caused the premature buds to abort and drop off!

All the normal summer-flowering species have recovered, e.g. sagittata, darcyi, guaranitica...they are all in full flower. S. dombeyi had lots of buds..they have all dropped off. Last year, this was at its best in the greenhouse in Autumn...Fall to some of you!

Robin.

Maybe you have the wrong salvias my salvia urica is almost eight feet tall my discolor was fought over by two hummingbirds my splendens van houtti are back in every color and I didn't even plant them this year chiapensis and dark dancer are being battled over and although I am not a big fan of the guaraniticas they are doing very well species and black and blue patens is beauiful sinaloensis is a stunning blue and that unusual california salvia that I bought from High Country gardns has gotten even more beautiful I have to take a picture before it shrivels up. I know it will I am just too lucky Oh I forgot my purple majesty is just purple and majestic that surprise of all is how much my hummingbirds love tne urica !! about as much as the guaraniticas and it's back from last year all by it self guaraniticas have never come back I'm sorry skip I don't mean to rub it in but It's been the best salvia hummer summer in 5 years. Oh I almost forgot the miniata is lovely too! I would pinch myself to see if I'm in a dream but I don't have to since I just got stung by a yellowjacket!! Ouch! Sarah

I think it's this LONG, HOT spell we've had. A lot of my Salvias are tall and ratty looking and the flowers are all spent. I guess it's time to do a summer shearing. I'll cut off the top half to two-thirds; then they'll put on new growth for the Fall -- otherwise they'll just get too floppy and not look good anytime soon.

Westelle, that sounds like a good idea. I wonder how well they'll take to some pruning right now. I usually try not to prune in this heat, but they need it.

Usually they are the pride of my gardens, but this year they're more like an eyesore.

I guess the summer has kinda gotten away from me. I usually do a summer pruning, but it's been too friggen hot to do it. I agree about pruning in high heat.... but.... I'm wondering if cutting off some of the leaf-mass might actually help them not get so dehydrated.... less able to transpire. Right now I can't even keep up with their water needs.

Well maybe you will feel better if I told you that the salvia penstemoides I bought at HCG isn't growing it's green but that's about it. and the regla I ordered from crownsville nursery is nowhere and last but definetly not least my salvia ugliosa is just that!! Last year it had taken over my whole garden. This year it's struggling to breath and I did get one bloom several weeks ago. Such is life. Hope you feel a little better now. Sarah

I have white flies trying to invade several salvias, been spraying insecticidal soap on them. One of my gesnereaflora grew to 8 ft then started wilting for no reason- it was watered well, last year my oppositiflora did the same thing. I broke half the branch and will have quite a few new plants. Good time to take cuttings. A few others have black burned leaves from the rain and sun. Oh yeah, I also lost a few from this heat but am waiting for others to bloom in just a little while.

Ugh! My largest, the microphylla 'Belize Form', is definitely the ugliest this year. He's one big tumbleweed, too! I have pruning shears in hand and will pay him a visit in moments.

Come here, my little..*ack!*...pretty. :D

Brenda

My salvias are getting huge, and are thriving. Must be a salvia oasis here or something in Delaware. Now if they will just flower and give me tons of seeds, I'll be a very happy camper.

Hi sarabn, greetings from your neighbor to the south. Want to trade later in the year?

Joseph

Hi Joseph, I am not very good at collecting seeds or cuttings, but if you want me to try I certainly will. Sarah

My Salvia guraniticas are definitely bug-chewed, but I just put them in this year. I'm hoping they will overwinter. The S. greggii, S. pachyphylla, S. spathacea, S. microphylla hybrids, S. dorrii, S. chamedryoides, S. reptens, S. penstemonoides, S. semiatrata and S. argentea are all doing well, ranging from really, really tiny but healthy to big, stroppy plants (S. pachyphylla and S. greggii 'Wild Thing'). The S. farinacea 'Victoria' and S. 'Lady in Red' are both performing better than expected, and I'm impatiently awaiting bloom from S. elegans and S. leucantha. I don't seriously expect the S. farinacea to overwinter, know the 'Lady in Red' won't, and am not certain about the future hardiness of S. elegans or S. leucantha. Like that EVER stopped me?

I have "May Night Salvia" that I planted in the spring. They are looking pretty ratty. Should I cut the whole plant 1/2 - 2/3 or just the dead spikes?

The leaves on my May Night salvia look like the dog's breakfast. I just cut off the taller 1/3 of it. Don't know if that's the right thing to do or not. On the positive side, it has bloomed continuously since spring. My East Friesland salvia's leaves look much, much better. All I had to do was cut off the older, long floppy shoots from it, and new fresh attractive foliage came up from the base of the plant. East Friesland has also bloomed non-stop all season.

Randy