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East Friesland vs May Night Salvia

13 years ago

Never had neither but i was leading toward May Night because it has come so highly recommended but isn't the East Friesland a darker purple, stands taller? Which blooms the longest? Once it finishes blooming, what do you do with it, cut back to encourage more blooms? How do you gather seeds from either plant?

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Comments (2)

coolplantsguy
13 years ago
'May Night' is the darker purple and blooms the longest. Simply dead-head finished spikes, and/or cut back to half after the first bloom. Collecting seed is not recommended, but is possible.

I still like 'East Friesland' as well. ;)
gazania_gw
13 years ago
I have both, and both are great plants, but I like East Friesland a little more. It is nice and tidy, growing in a 'controlled' clump. May Night tends to sprawl with the branching kind of helter skelter. MN does bloom a little darker and longer, but is harder to cut back for a little rebloom. With the way the stems sprawl I sometimes have a hard time deciding where to cut back to. Both May Night and East Friesland have given me babies, but the offspring aren't the same as the parent plants.

As coolplantsguy said...I don't recommend collecting seed with the thoughts of growing more of the same.
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I snip off all the spent spikes in the beginning of the season, but it gets tedious. Maybe I should just cut "way" back next season. It doesn't bloom much after the snipping...just a few flowers here and there. I've heard it blooms til frost, but it just mildews for me. It's living in a good half day sun (morning and then some afternoon). What am I doing wrong? Mindy - I've not had slugs that I can see on mine. What other plants do you have surrounding the May Nights?
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