Super Salvias 2014..

Salvia are so easy from seed that you don't need to be limited.

 

The ground down South is still relatively warm Paul and if it's quite sheltered and was a good sized clump, you may well be lucky. Cover it up with some straw or dried grass for now,
Jenny

 

The only problem there is that one would be starting with a brand new plant. Whereas if you already have a reasonable sized clump, then the following season one would have an even better display in summer as well as apparently, a plant that can tolerate cold temperatures more easily.

Up until Christmas most of the stems were still green with leaves still on them with only a couple of stems showing frost damage having already had a few frosts in December. I thought S. Patens was supposed to be deciduous. Anyway I had already put down about 4" of leaf mould around the crown in late November so hopefully my plant will be protected from the worst of the cold.

 

Taking S.patens as an example you would notice very little difference between an early seed grown plant and one that has come back from the tuber in it's own good time. The biggest difference is seen in the woody Salvia which just get bigger and bigger if hardy. If tender or borderline hardy then they need lifting in the autumn.
My point is that you said....................

If you seek out seed there are some super blues in the rarer species so there is no need to be limited by what is readily available.

Only if it is tuberous really. As far as the deciduous/woody types go my thinking is that it is down to size.

It is tuberous.

 

My heart is set on trying out Salvia amistad and nachtvlinder this year to balance out the hot pink ones!

 

Nachtvlinder is on my list too.

 

Ah well. My Salvia Patens did not survive the winter after all. I'm really pi**ed about it, because I did everything that was recommended, eg treating the tubers as you would Dahlias and those seem to have survived ok, so I have no idea where I went wrong with the Salvia. I don't think I'll be bothering with with S. Patens again.

 

Have you lifted it to see?

I had to lift the one I left in the ground as it had a Day Lily root running through it. It was just coming back into life despite a winter low of -8°c...................




A few tubers have rotted but on the whole not too bad................


However, the one that I lifted is growing like boogery in the greenhouse (in a 30cm diameter tomato pot)..............


It was stored in a cold shed.
The moral of the story is that whilst they do survive outdoors (assuming that we've paid attention to good drainage etc.) they will always be better if lifted and stored cool and dry over the winter.

One other personal observation - I have never seen them sold in tomato pots. To my way of thinking if they are grown in tommy pots the tubers form deeper and increase the chances of survival.

 

Wait another 3 weeks!

 

The blue ones are gorgeous - I'm definitely getting some of those.

 

Yes. Here was my detailed overwintering procedure.

In December stems and leaves had just turned black due to heavy frost previous night, and were cut down. I lifted plant and wrapped it in layers of newspaper and stored in a brown bag in the garage keeping some garden soil around tubers. Low down the woody stems were still green. when cut back. Every month I unwrapped, inspected and sprayed tubers and they seemed ok. In March there was no sign of life, no visible 'eyes' but tubers still firm so brought plant indoors in an unheated room and planted up in pot using damp multipurpose compost. A month later today, still no sign of life but tubers now showing signs of rot. Very disappointed and threw out the plant. My 2 dahlias which had also had the same treatment (wrapped in newspaper and stored in cold garage) have survived and are showing 'eyes'.

Clearly it seems dahlias are more resilient and somehow treating S. Patens in the same way was a failure in my case. No idea why. Next time I'll leave it in the ground. Digging it up was a mistake.

 

Paul, as you can see mine was just a first year plant from early seed. The other one in the greenhouse is a couple of years old from seed and is my "banker" plant. How much soil was around the tubers?
I'm pretty sure that @nibor will have his own thoughts on storing them although I suspect that he leaves them in the ground in Surrey.

Which blue ones? I may have seed depending on the species.