Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

I bought a young salvia plant last year - really love the flowers and so do the bees! It's planted in a raised herb bed (sage, rosemary, chives etc...). Anyway, a couple of questions:

1) should I cut it back, and if so when and by how much?
2) can you take cuttings from it - if so, when's a good time (assume should have been Autumn)?

Many thanks

Paula

Dear Pawty,
wait until the new growth starts in the spring and cut it back then, but not beyond the new buds on the stems.

Cuttings for this type of salvia can be done in the spring; but there are two points to make sure you do, one make sure that you cut the base between the nodes and two make sure that the stem at this point is not hollow. This is because when it has become hollow the stem will have matured beyond the stage where it can root easily. Dahlias suffer from the same problem with hollow stems. All that said spring cuttings , given the right conditions, will be rooted within a fortnight.
Regards Sally Wright.

Mine didn't get through the winter in a sheltered place, but you should be ok where you live. I'd take some cuttings as a back up if I grew it again or take it inside. A light trim in spring should be ok and you could use some suitable bits for cuttings if they match Sally's advice.

Many thanks! I can be a bit secateur happy ..... What's the worse that can happen.

Dear Plum pudding,
do not be in a hurry to dig up that salvia as Hot lips can be deciduous when frosted but will sprout from further down as the weather improves.
Regards Sally ~Wright

We're at 560 feet above sea level and usually have some very low temperatures in winter, so I've lost quite a few different varieties of saliva over winter, even when they're supposed to be reasonably hardy, and I've given them a bit of protection to help. I always give plants a chance to grow probably long after they've given up the ghost, so it is probably the hollow stem that is their weakness in the cold.

Any way, I love saliva so will keep growing them and maybe I'll find a way of getting them through the winter.

Dear PP,
if, and I must stress if, your soil is free draining and deep enough try planting your semi hardy salvias about six inches down. This trick allows us to grow salvia carulea and S. involucrata bethellii outdoors overwinter here in Cambridge on river gravels. Plan B is a thick mulch of gravel; plan C is a mulch and a cloche if there is room. This works with Dahlias as well.
All that said I always have a few of all my varieties as small plants in the polytunnel; you never know when a minus 15 will strike.
Regards Sally Wright.

Thanks Sally, I think I'll try digging in some grit and planting them a lot deeper than usual. I daren't leave dahlias out though because of the mega slug problem they eat the new shoots before they get through the soil.

Meant to ask, when you say new growth..... Mine is still very green ( a bit woody at the base) . The warm winter has meant that it hasn't really died back and has continued to grow throughout.

I really like this plant - can you recommend any other salvias for someone who isn't the best gardener in the world?

Many thanks

So, we're into March now, the Salvia has growth on it (although to be fair, has had growth through the warm winter) - is it time to get scissor happy??

And while I'm there, should I cut the the jasmine back??

Thanks

Well, the salvia itself survived the trim I gave it a week ago..... I do however need lessons in taking cuttings ..... They are now in compost heaven

Hi,

Amazingly my salvia's are all still flowering.

The cuttings I took (again) didn't survive, so will give it a go again. Can I take cuttings now? If so, would you keep them in a window? I took Rosemary cutting once - placed then in the window and covered in a clear bag with an elastic band around. It seemed to work. Could this method work for salvia's or will they rot?

Good job I checked this post though - I was just about to get the secateurs out ..... Then I thought - Autumn or Spring .... It's spring!

Pawty