Can I over-winter Black & Blue Salvia?
Heather__Michigan
14 years ago
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crazee4flowers
14 years agomindysuewho
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Black and Blue salvia: Has anyone tried to over-winter bare-root
Comments (4)I winter over Black and Blue salvia by cutting back and potting it up then putting in a cool dark basement room. Once a month I give it a small amount of water to keep tubers from shrinking. In the early spring I put it under lights for new growth and plant in the garden after the last frost date. Some of my plants have been wintered over three or four years. Editted to add: when I cut it back I cut it way back to just a short stem. That should make even a large one easy to pot up. This post was edited by mnwsgal on Mon, Nov 10, 14 at 12:10...See MoreBlack & Blue salvia - quick please!
Comments (7)I overwintered 2 pots of Salvia B&B last winter in the garage. It worked extremely well! I forgot about them and don't remember watering them all winter, regardless, they did fine. I think I watered them when they started to send shoots up in March or so - it was much earlier than they normally would outside. I would have potted more for the winter, except the voles ate the other three! I bought 3 more this past spring, and when I planted them in the Spring, I put wire cages made out of hardware cloth around the roots. They did great this summer and I'm going to dig up all 5 of them this fall....See Moresaving blue salvia over night in MN?
Comments (12)Oh-oh, Mary Ann--now that I see the photo, I realize that I have steered you in the wrong direction. When you mentioned the Black and Blue salvia, I mistakenly assumed you were referring to Salvia patens, what is often referred to as 'Blue Angel' and similar varieties (see link below). These and the Black and Blue (S. guarantica) do have fleshy roots that can be saved in the house over winter. If yours really looks like the one in your photo, I can understand why you didn't find any fleshy roots. It is more likely to be Salvia nemorosa or something similar to that (a "meadow sage") and those are hardy here, at least in the ground. (See http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/SAEF.html) I have only overwintered those in the ground. My understanding is that a pot exposes plants to harsher conditions more like increasing the zone rating a couple of numbers, so your effort of digging them may not have been wasted. With fibrous roots, like your plants have, I don't think the strategy of keeping them in a bag will work well as it does for the fleshy roots I was talking about. You don't by any chance have a place in the ground that you could dig up quickly and water those plants in well (and repeatedly until the ground freezes hard for the winter) instead, do you? If you do, I would try that strategy instead. I am very sorry I misunderstood what type of salvia you were talking about! It does sound like you had quite a fight with those roots, but they may have a better chance of overwintering out of the containers. There's a FAQ on this page about overwintering perennials in pots that seems to offer good advice. http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/faq.html#winter Good luck! I hope it works for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia patens 'Blue Angel'...See MoreAnyone Overwinter Black and Blue Salvia?
Comments (3)Liz, I save at least a few geranium plants each year. I don't have an attached garage or any stucture outside that doesn't get below freezeing temps so I just overwinter them indoors with the housplants. Plants have gotten pretty expensive, so it's good to share tips on how to make them last more than a couple of seasons. Salvias are one of my favorite plants. I think I bought at least one salvia this year that won't take a zone 5 winter. Now I need to find the plant tag so I can remember which one it was! Thanks for the tip! Barb...See Morehummersteve
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