Salvia 'Blue Bedder'

14 years ago

Has anyone successfully grown this stuff? I had three containers germinate. I planted all three in different beds with different conditions. In the sunny, dry bed, they turned brown and died. In the front bed which gets about 4 hours of sun and stays moist, they turned brown and died. In the perennial bed where they were getting 6 hours of sun and constant moisture, they turned brown and died. What's the secret?

Rose Queen salvia met the same end. I'm starting to think it's me, not the plants.

Featured Answer

friesfan1

14 years ago

Hi Token,
I WS'ed these seeds this year. They have germinated.
Now waiting to plant out. I think I may have also lost
some.
I will check my cups today and see if they have survived.

I got seeds from one source and they say perennial and
another that say annual. So what are they?

Mary

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Comments (18)

sadie2005
14 years ago
I grew these last year and they did great in a full sun bed. not sure if this matters, but I did not plant them out til first week of June (was moving to new house).
token28001
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Sadie. I was thinking maybe I planted them too early.
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carrie630
14 years ago
token - If I remember right, the first year they don't bloom until end of summer, but then the same plant will bloom around now (mine are) and from now on - May til Fall. You can't go wrong with these plants - they overwinter great here - some even stay evergreen.

You and I have the same weather - so you should do very well with them

Carrie
carrie630
14 years ago
Here in our climate, they are green all winter - but the trick is to not cut them back in the Fall. If you cut them back, they can die. Mine stay green as I said before, they also bloom a lot earlier in the season than their first year....

Here's a picture from 2006 - second year Salvias in mid May:

{{gwi:10188}}
hl42
14 years ago
This year I lost all the blue bedder seedlings to damping off. Last year they did very well in a shade bed with a few hours of sun and consistent moisture. I cut them back in winter and they didn't come back this year. Oh well.
dorisl
14 years ago
Those are kinda cute, I think I have seeds and I still have time....
token28001
Original Author
14 years ago
Carrie, you wouldn't happen to have seeds, would you? Mine are all gone to the great perennial bed in the sky.
carrie630
14 years ago
Token, you are so close to me - if I had them, it would be easy for me to drop them off - but I don't. I also don't harvest as much as others do here on the forum - I have a terrible habit of buying seeds - I got frustrated trying to harvest the seeds because they kept dropping before I could catch them.

I also never noticed reseeds, but I am sure they do - I just never noticed it.

I bought my seeds at Renfrow hardware in Matthews.

carrie
lynnencfan
14 years ago
I have had good luck with Blue Bedder also - I have them in an open full sun island bed and also underneath the shade of a crape myrtle but west side so they do get afternoon sun. The clump in another partial shade bed didn't do as well - they are a May till frost bloomer for me also. I do keep them deadheaded ......

Lynne
token28001
Original Author
14 years ago
I just realized I had more seeds from a trade two weeks ago. I sowed them. We'll see how they do. Maybe they need to be fresh?

I really want to use this with my lavender to play off the yellow and pink knockouts I plan to use by the front door.
dorisl
14 years ago
Carrie, what are the pink ones behind the sage?

:)
token28001
Original Author
14 years ago
Verbena bonariensis
carrie630
14 years ago
Yes, token is right - Verbena Bonariensis - and they are actually more purple but in that picture they do look pink... They reseed like crazy - I never sow them anymore.

This year I don't have them in that border, because in early spring I went around and dug up all the evergreen clumps of them and put them in another border. They are really easy to transplant - you can't kill them!
token28001
Original Author
14 years ago
I went out this morning to remove some shirley poppies that had fallen over in the rain and storms of the past few days. Guess what I found? There's a couple clumps of salvia blue bedder hiding in between the poppies. So I cut the poppies instead of pulling them. The salvia is about 6" tall in the largest clump. Maybe with a little more sun, they'll take off.
ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
14 years ago
Hey,
good find token!
Never say "never"
May they thrive.

ellen
dorisl
14 years ago
they must be a little bit shy.

:)
gee_oh_nyc
14 years ago
Mine got soaked and drown in these rains that came after our 3 day heat wave last month. I have one lone survivor that I am waiting to plant out. I may try to direct sow some too to see what happens (uh oh... can I say "direct sow" in the wintersowing forum?)
Hope your next crop thrives.
George