Super Salvias!

Hi again, sorry for the delay replying - couldn't face the computer last night after staring at one all day at work.

OK, the salvias I've ordered are:

Salvia greggii ("Stormy Pink")
Salvia x jamensis ("La Luna" and "Los Lirios)
Salvia patens ("Gentian Blue" and "Cambridge Blue")

I guess it's not vital they go in containers - especially if they'll do better out of them - but I had it pictured in my mind. You know what it's like!

 

Oh, I got this one too.

 

Never found that S.patens does very well for me in pots..................

 

Patens is best overwintered in greenhouse and potted on Into bigger pots. Best in the ground in summer. The rest are shrubby salvias.....hardy in cornwall ......and can grow in pots. They are woody plants floweriing all summer. Trewithian is one of a number of Cornish-named salvias. I dig up Patens at summer's end to overwinter every year indoors

 

Cheers Verdun, I'm sure I can find a space for the patens in the ground! Many thanks for the advice.

 

Thanks - I'll put those in the ground once they're ready.

 

I have found that most forms of Salvia patens are hardy in the south of the UK. Cuttings can rot in winter. If you have seeds, sow them in March and treat as annuals, you will have flowering plants by July.

 

I both overwinter patens in greenhouse and in the open ground but I find the protected ones produce better, bigger plants and earlier flowers. I grow patens Guanajuato too, a much bigger form, large dark bright blue flowers but this definitely needs greenhouse protection in winter and to be kept dry. I also split patens in autumn....the tubers will produce large plants the following spring/ summer

 

Thanks nibor, I've actually ordered plants which will arrive in some time in April - letting someone else do the hard bit.

 

Does anyone cut back Hotlips?, mine are about 2ft high (from jumbo plugs last march)
I planted the three of them (too) close together and now make a large clump, leave or prune or even dig one out ?

 

Hot lips is a reliably hardy shrub here. I cut it back in autumn but best to do this in spring. It is a microphylla hybrid, I think, and you can cut all of them to just a few buds. Can you try and take one out without damaging the others? Treat it like a fuschia then, cut back hard and trim roots slightly and pot up. Plant out when it's growing well mid spring

 

Potting on, again, my salvia Amistad, pineapple sage and some others. This winter, in unheated greenhouse, plants have continued to grow apace.

 

my Salvia Amistad is still flowering, just about, in my unheated conservatory ... amazing

 

Oh, ecky,thump! You beat me Kristen. How do you rate it's colour? Say compared to any of the patens varieties? Is it of the same shrubby habit as microphylla? What height do you reckon it will be outdoors? I know of it only by read descriptions but there's nothing like personal opinion from the grower.

 

I think Amistad is fabulous: lovely colour, lovely form.

But I can't tell you any more than that as it only arrived as a little cutting last Autumn that Jenny kindly sent me. All I can tell you is that I'm in love with it!

Picture earlier in the thread:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/super-salvias.41788/page-10#post-610143