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Deadheading salvia Blue Note - how and when?

ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
in Plants
I don’t know what to do with this salvia to encourage more flowers.
There seem to be dead flowers up and down the stalk, so I can’t work out what if anything I need to do, or whether it’s actually finished for the year. If so, how do I treat it over the autumn / winter? Thanks


Posts

  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    I don't know for sure (never grown this plant) but my instinct tells me to remove the faded flower spikes back to some nice healthy growth and you may see new ones develop. I usually manage a second flush of flowers from Salvia Caradonna.

    Have you tried Mr Google for some guidance?
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • GrannybeeGrannybee Posts: 332
    Most of those buds will have flowered. Cut the flowering stalks off and the plant should re-flower in a couple of weeks. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    With shrubby salvias I just cut off the flower stems once they are flowered out. With by a salvia hedge I use hedge cutters to take it back, normally about this time of year. We then get more flowering for Sept/ Oct in London. 
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    If you follow the flower spikes down the stem to the first pair of leaves, you might be able to see tiny new flower spikes forming. 
    Don't stress if you can't. Either cut down to the first pair of leaves, or even the pair below that.
    Now the days are shortening the flowers should really start coming.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I usually give mine a haircut at this time of year if they're running out of steam and looking a bit shabby. I don't bother with individual flower spikes (I'd be there all afternoon), I just clip all over somewhere below the base of the flower spikes. They soon regrow and produce another flush of flowers. Here's a Blue Note that I did yesterday.
     
    And one that I didn't get around to

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    You could individually cut spent flowering stems as shown in red, or just cut straight across with large scissors as shown in blue!


    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I go for the cutting it all - but probably about where @Loxley 's red lines are and a bit lower at the outside than in the middle to make more of a dome shape. Yellow line, but in 3D if that makes sense. But it doesn't really matter - it'll grow back in any case. And when it's regrown some but not yet flowered, that's the ideal time to take cuttings if you want more of it.

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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