As promised (to Pam) here are some pics of the Navajo Salvias I bought back in Mar/April -


Navajo White


Navajo Bright Red


Navajo Purple



What am I doing wrong?
Only the white looks like it did originally. The red is sparse and the purple has almost no flowers at all.

HELP! please........

Diana
Upstate SC
Zone 7b

I have no suggestions for you Diana but I will take them off your hands because it is more than I have in bloom right now.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Diana,

They look fine to me. The Greggii's are a little slow to get growing, but it looks like you have alot of stalks with blooms. Hit em with some fertilizer once a week and see if that helps. Yours are alot bushier than mine. The plants I have that are bigger in bloom are the Mesa Series Salvia Hybrids. They are not greggii's. One is red and the other is purple. Maybe thats what your comparing them to?

Also, you can cut the spent stems when they are done blooming. (not any of the green leave stems, just the shoots) That encourages new shoots quicker. I only leave them on at the end of the season when I want to collect some seeds.

Pam NJ 6B

"I have no suggestions for you Diana but I will take them off your hands because it is more than I have in bloom right now"
LOL Penny - I'll shut up!

Thanks for the advice Pam. I never know when to cut the stems back on these, cause they always seem to have at least one flower blooming on them, so I think it's not done blooming. But I'll try cutting them back a little more and giving them some fertilizer.

Diana
Upstate SC
Zone 7b

Diana,

You can usually tell they are spent when the calxes are empty. If they still have buds in them, leave it be. One or 2 flowers left, time to cut it unless there are no other blooms on the plant, than I may wait. Just cut back to where the leaves start.

Pam NJ 6B