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Salvia greggii leaves curling up

11 years ago

My poor salvia look so unhappy with their leaves curling up. Based on various web research, I can't come to any conclusion on a link between curling, water, and heat.

Some background on the plants:

6 1-gallon potted plants at about 24" tall when purchased

Planted in ground on east side of home, about 3 weeks ago

Each plant is about 24" apart

They get first 1/2 day sun, then shade

All exhibit this upward leaf curling

Moisture meter shows low to med moisture, 3" to 10" down

pH meter shows 8-7 (akaline)

I try to only water once a week (about 1/2 gallon each, though I'm sure it doesn't all go down to roots)

Near coast, so never too hot (so far, at least)

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Comments (4)

rich_dufresne
11 years ago
That might be a symptom of the root system under stress, and the inability to deliver fluid through the plant's vascular system. Are they all the same selection?

Are you in a Mediterranean climate like San Diego, or on the east coast, near Galveston or Miami, with a subtropical climate? The first has cool nights, and the second two locations have hot, humid nights.
Mike9000
Original Author
11 years ago
Hi Rich,
Thanks for the quick reply.
All 6 plants are the same selection, bought and planted at the same time. They are from Home Depot and the label says:
"autumn sage, red, Salvia greggii"

The sage are planted in San Juan Capistrano, CA, about 2 miles from the beach. The climate is very much like that of San Diego. According to the label on the pots, they were grown in Fallbrook, CA, which is about 30 miles southeast of SJC, so a bit drier and hotter.

I often notice that potted drought tolerant plants at nurseries, Home Depot, etc., always have wet soil. That seems odd. Maybe they get watered everyday at the store and I'm not continuing that when I buy and plant them, so they get shocked. Just guessing.
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Hi Penny - I'm still following this post. My subrotundra that looked different from the others looked exactly like a coccinea. I think it was just a seed that snuck in. I didn't bring in any of my salvias. I intended to. I had some that were very small that I grew from seed and I was going to pot them up but got busy with other things (had to do some remodeling after a kitchen fire). I'm crossing my fingers that most of my zone-iffy salvias will return. We haven't gotten down to zero yet this winter but the last month or so, it's been pretty soggy. : ( Only one of my false yucca seeds germinated last year but it never grew any true leaves for some reason and finally died. John R. - the yellow greggi I saw was butter colored, not bright yellow but not off-white so I guess it just depends on whether you like that color. I don't care for bright yellow so I thought it was kinda pretty. The best greggi's for me are the ones that come back after winter. lol I'll be kicking myself if my salvias don't come back. I saved some seeds (greggi, guaranitica and darcyi) but they got exposed to a lot of heat when we had our fire then were stored in my shed until January. I put them in there because the bag they were in was so smoky then I forgot where they were. I'm going to try to plant some anyway just in case.
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PRO
H2 XERO Landscape Design
4 years ago
I'm seeing the same problem in Westminster CA 92683. Coastal So. Cal.

All of the leaves on one long stem curl. Other CA native annuals have leaves that get blotched brown.
PRO
H2 XERO Landscape Design
4 years ago
My plant looks the same. I have been cutting off the entire stem and bagging it in plastic. I don't use any chemicals so it cant be drift. It could be related to all of the late rain and cloudy days that we have had. That could have been a good environment for pests or it could be fungus.

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