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Sad salvia

WildFlower_UKWildFlower_UK Posts: 236
in Problem solving
My Salvia Nemorosa isn't looking too happy, although there is new growth that's looking slightly healthier. Most of the purple spears turned brown/dry very quickly this year. The plant is in a large container with other plants (lavender, thyme, sage, grasses, scabiosa) and is watered once a week when there hasn't been any rain. The Salvia has been fed with a tomato (high potash) feed twice in the last month. The soil wasn't improved this year from last year, so wondering if that's the issue? Should I cut back?


"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
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  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Unlikely you will get another flush of flowers, so you can cut back if you wish [ i leave the flower heads till autumn though, because I like them ]

    they do not need rich, well fed soil to thrive.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    If you want to, you can deadhead the flower stalks. Occasionally you can see tiny flowers appearing from further down the stem, but they won't be any where near as striking as the first flush. 
    My salvias are looking very similar. 
    As @ punkdoc says, they don't need a lot of pampering  :)
  • WildFlower_UKWildFlower_UK Posts: 236
    Thanks @AnniD and @punkdoc. I wonder why they haven't been as bountiful as they were last year... I never really had a striking flush, sadly! Maybe the plant is just another victim of this year's cold, then very wet, then very hot, spring/summer.
    "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Mine went exactly the same Wildflower - definitely weather! I cut them right back a couple of weeks ago and they have started a second flush, but as AnnieD says, the new stalks are shorter and much less impressive. They have never been good repeaters, S. Nemorosa Mainacht does much better in that respect.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • WildFlower_UKWildFlower_UK Posts: 236
    Thanks @Nollie! I'm not exactly pleased you've had the same experience, but good to know I'm not alone! Thanks for the heads up about the Mainacht variety; might be worth considering swapping out or adding it to the mix. I've thought about adding catmint, too.
    "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need"
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    I found my plants flowered "okay",  but it seemed to be for a much shorter time than usual. The joys of gardening, no two years are ever the same. 
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    That’s exactly the process I started last year, Wildflower, replacing some and dotting around Mainacht (excellent recommendation from Pete8). I initially went mad and bought loads of Caradonna, as I do think it is one of the most attractive and elegant nemorosas, a proper purple too. Shame it’s flowering season is so short, even in a ‘normal’ year - whatever that is!

    Some of my perennials never really got going or went over very fast @AnniD, regardless of the amount of water I gave them. We have been in hot, drought conditions for months, here. Crocosmia Lucifer produced a few flower spikes, then keeled over, Achillea is never as drought tolerant as claimed so I always give that lots of water, but the heads turned prematurely brown. The Heleniums and Echinaceas are doing well though and Salvia Amistad is holding on, so at least there are patches of colour in my otherwise tired looking borders 😊 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    The native white achillea does well here in dry conditions @Nollie but I can't get the coloured ones to do anything much at all, either in full sun or with shelter from the main heat of the sun but still plenty of light.  I'll keep trying tho cos the form is lovely and so good for pollinators.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    edited July 2021
    For several years I persevered with dead heading individual spikes of caradonna and, although I got a bit of reflowering, I hated the way the fact the leaves always went very brown and tatty and the clumps often splayed after watering or a bit of rain.

    For the last couple of years I've cut them right back to the base as soon as the first flush of flowers has faded (usually beginning of July). Within a couple of weeks there's a clump of tidy new growth which grows to about 18" and gives a second flush of flowers at the end of August.

    In other words, I treat them (and they respond) in the same way as hardy geraniums and astrantias. I'm just happier with them being neater clumps with fresher leaves.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    That's interesting @Topbird, l shall give that a try. The leaves do look rather sad at this time of year. 
    Do you think it's too late to try it now ?
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