The Salvia and Nepeta Walkers Low were the only colored blooms in the Butterfly Garden and now that I cut off the spent bloom stalks it looks pretty "empty" with a sea of green. One of four new stalwart coreopsis has started blooming and it's bright yellow with red inner rays. The Scarlet Sage's red blooms seem to only stick around for a few days then fall off. Butterflies/Hummingbirds are going to have to be in the right place at the right time to get any nectar from them. Maybe the second flush of blooms will last longer as they're all new young plants. I just can't wait until all the plants for butterflies bloom but they're mostly summer/fall bloomers when it's warm enough for Butterflies to migrate here and have sufficient body temps to fly. Thanks for confirming proper method for cutting of dead bloom stalks, guys. Your generosity and patience with inexperienced people like myself is terrific and a great help.

Larkspur is a re-seeding annual so there's no point in cutting that back -- if you leave it alone and mulch before the seed falls you'll have an endless supply of larkspur year after year. I think most salvias bloom fine without deadheading, but others can answer that better.

bbeez -- (Sorry, I've been out of town...just getting back and getting back to GW...) One more question: I deadheaded the salvia before I went out of town. When I came back, they were blooming again (good!), but the flower stalks were all sort of short and not as nice and tall as they were before (not good?). Is that normal and how do I get them to bloom on taller stalks again?

Hummingbird certainly use all the types of coccinea. The only downside to the species is flowering shuts down in the afternoon in really hot weather. Most of us who grow lots of coccinea, at least the ones I know, do not deadhead them. There is no reason since their continuous growth covers up most of the seedheads. Coccinea is also an excellent plant for seed eating birds. Goldfinches take the seed as it ripens and migrant sparrows like White-throated Sparrows use it all winter. It is an amazingly abundant seeder.