It does take 5-10 minutes, but I cut of each spent bloom. It then reblooms a month later! :) Well worth the 10 minutes.

I'm not sure about whacking it back but cut off at the base of each spike and you'll get a rebloom. Same works for veronica.

I have a lot so I use the string trimmer on them. They still rebloom in about a month.

I cut back the stems of mine on May 10. This week, I have new spires of blooms (there has been a lot of rain recently).

Last year I whacked mine down just below the spent blooms, and it looked like crap and didn't rebloom. My Salvia may night has never rebloomed. Don't know what's up with that? But I'm not deadheading this year, because I think the seedheads of most perennial salvias are rather ornamental. Also tend to leave them alone because the foliage smells awful (although some people like it).

I think they smell like cat pee. The bag I had my new pot in coming home from the store, and I couldnt figure out how I was smelling cat pee in the car, then I found the offender,lol. I didnt know they would re-bloom, so I have to cut mine back tomorrow too. Its small tho, only 4-5 bloom spikes, will take all of 20 seconds.
Tammy

I always just snip away to about half the plant and it always reblooms for me a month later and continues into the fall. This plant is a serious bloomer. Only complaint I have is it isn't as tidy as my Friesland which by the way blooms just as long and just as good as my May Night :)

Can you root these cuttings?
Tammy

I also like Friesland better because of 2 reason. May Night's blooms are so dark that they tend to blend into the background, which for me is green leafy shrubs and green leafy perennials that haven't bloomed yet. There's not enough contrast to really notice the May Night. Also, Friesland is more tidy, as stated, and you really notice the blooms because they are held up on lighter green leafed stalks.

However, I love them both and will always grow them because they are so dependable and increase well.

:)

I put some Bone Meal in the hole when I plant these and they bloom over and over. Give them some tlc and they will respond.

East Frieslands are tidy? Mine are splayed in the middle and laying all over the ground. If I didn't like the color and the flower so much I'd get rid of them.

I usually pinch off the spent flowers down to where a new bud is forming and I can usually keep them blooming most of the summer. It usually takes me 30-40 mins to do three plants and it usually needs to be done a couple times a summer, so I consider them pretty demanding. Many years I end up cutting them all the way back at the end of August, once they start sending up new basal foliage. At that point, I don't get anymore rebloom.

Totally Confused

My East Frieslands didn't perform nearly as well as May Night. Then the voles ate the EF's. So now I have MN everywhere and its all working out as it should be.

I do cut off each spent bloom down to the next set of buds. It is tedious and time-consuming but I don't mind. Kind of relaxing to sit in one spot and get in a zone.

It reblooms quickly and after that it gets whacked to the base.

I got Cardonna last year and I am anxious to see how it compares to MN. What I recall from last year, is that the spent blooms were not as unattractive as MN's spent blooms. Its later in schedule than MN too.

I have too many plants to take the time to trim each spire with my pruners. I use a cordless trimmer on my plants and zap those things back. I have different length blades for different plants. I use the short blade for salvias and the long blade for nepeta and lavender.

I planted May Night with gaillardia 'Yellow Queen' so that the blooms show up.

Lsst year I cut mine back after blooming to about 8" and in about a month I had a nice reblooming plant. I just cut it back yesterday for this year so I will take a picture of it and then again when it reblooms.......

Lynne

Right after I responded saying Friesland is more tidy I go outside and it's all flopped over from the middle.

I had my hubby bunch it all up and then I used a 2 foot twist tie (I have a roll of it) to hold it together from the bottom. Now it's standing straight up again. :)

Hi there,
I have got some white Adrian and dark, tall Caradonna (cultivars of Salvia nemorosa). Funny, the Adrian plants smell really horrible (cat pee), the Caradonna just somewhat herblike.

Pruning:
yes, whack back completely,dont wait too long, prune while there are still some flowers and buds on the stalks. After late pruning you get just some leaves and late or no flowers.

Flopping over:
Salvia nemorosa thrive in full sun, with heat and almost draught. I grow mine on a gravel bed, with poor sandy soil. They dont get any additional water (annual rainfall ca. 700 ml) or fertilizer, I remove every bit of plant debris etc. to keep the nutrients low.

My Caradonnas are abot 1.5-2 feet high, and very sturdy.
In my experince they grow weak and floppy on rich, moist soil.

Well, happy snipping, cheers, Lin

If you grow 'Caradonna' and don't cut it back, you may get offspring from seed (if the conditions are right and you don't cover it up with mulch) that are true to the parent. It may take 2 years to get big blooms/foliage, but sometimes the little things bloom the first spring. 'Marcus' also self-sows as does 'Rose Sensation'.

These spring-blooming salvias look great with allium that bloom at the same time--'Purple Sensation' and christophii (in my zone).

I got Caradonna last year, and it was one of the first things to bloom this spring. And it's true, the spent blooms don't look bad at all - they have dark stems and the blooms fade to a reddish-purple.

I did cut them back when they were finished, and because mine are still relatively small I took the time to trim back right above tiny emerging buds. I'm keeping a log of bloom times, and I kid you not, four days later they were in full bloom again! The blooms are shorter this time, but still. :)

I just got May Night in a trade. Anxious to compare them next year.

Also: I was just cutting back my Snow Hill Salvia - and it sort of does smell like cat pee! :)

Here's mine. It seems to always be in bloom. I use Bone Meal, Composted Cow Manure, and Miracle Grow. This works for me, but I'm sure others have different ways of making these bloom. I do try to remove the spent flowers, but as you can see, I am a little behind in that department. LOL.

{{gwi:229339}}

I like salvia a lot,but mine always seem to flop. So here's my question: linaria above says you should put them in poor soil, that too much moisture and nutrients will cause them to flop. But echinaceamaniac says to feed them with cow manure and bone meal. Now I'm totally confused! If there were a way to stop them from flopping, without using stakes, I would be very happy to discover it.

Flopping could be caused by not providing enough sun. The Salvia in my photo gets very good sunlight. It's on the east side of the house. The one in the photo seems to love all the tlc I'm giving it. It's also helping my Coreopsis plants. They are reblooming like mad even when I forget to deadhead them.

They get a lot of sun, so that's not it! I also have several different varieties, none of them seem flop-proof.

I think it may have more to do with the species. My 'May Night's start to get shaded around 2:00 to 3:00 (depending on which one) and they are all completely upright. They are in lean-and-mean soil. 'Cardonna' is only year 2, but it appears that it will be very upright. It is in rich, moist soil.

'Marcus' is a terrible flopper. It is in lean to average soil and good sun.

I used to have a white one, possibly Snow Hill, and it flopped, good soil, good sun.

So for me the floppers are S. nemerosa (with the exception of Cardonna). S. sylvestris seems stronger, but I only have one.

Not conclusive, but may help point more to species than conditions.

I cut back each spent flower (when I remember to do it, or when I can find the time!) on May Night to get rebloom. I have them planted in front of white flowering deutzia so they show up great. I love the darker color of May Night.
I don't find them to flop at all, and when they look a little tired at the end of the season they're a bit hidden by the deutzia.

My Caradonna also does not flop. Blue Hill and E. Friesland both flop for me no matter what I do. I think Wendy's right that it might have more to do with species than conditions.

When I bought my May Knight salvia plants at the nursery, the flowers stood together very tall like long candles and high above the green leaves. However, when I cut off the spent flowers, the rebloom produced many but much shorter flowers poking out here there and everywhere. How do the nurseries prune to get these plants to produce these tall upright flowers?