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Salvia Cool Cream

februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
in Plants
I bought some Salvia Cool Cream plugs last year and they grew much faster than I anticipated. Also, I didn't tend to them as well as I should have and the branches are all over the place. Basically they look like birds' nests with green shoots. I'd really like to cut them back so I can encourage them into a more sensible shape. How hard can I prune them without killing them off? The stems are incredibly woody so I have a feeling it won't be as much as I'd like.

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I cut my shrubby salvias back quite hard in spring and they regrow, but to be on the safe side you could go down only as far as the lowest green shoots.
    If any of the new green shoots are long enough (or if you leave them to grow a bit more) you could take some cuttings as insurance. They root easily, even in a jar of water.
    I've only had Cool Cream a couple of years but it is proving to be one of the sprawlier ones even from a fairly hard prune, so you might want to make sure that it's in a suitable location to allow for its growth habit.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    Thanks. It's definitely a sprawler. I had cosmos and phlox growing around it so didn't notice what was going on.
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