One of my favorite flowers is Victoria Blue Salvia, and I've been interplanting it in my vegetable rows, potager-style, along with other flowers like marigolds and zinnias. Last year I noticed that a couple of very sturdy salvia plants that had overwintered in the row that I was using for melons seemed to inhibit their growth. The plants on either side of the salvia didn't do much of anything at all. This year I had some big salvia plants in with my peppers and eggplants and those didn't do well either. I don't know whether it was just a bad year, or whether salvia possibly produces some chemical or plant hormone that negatively impacts some or all other plants. Ideas?
Does Salvia Inhibit Veggie/Melon Growth?
I don't know Leslie but they probably know all about it over on the herb forum. There are some experts on companion planting. Salvia is or is kin to a form of herb, I think. Maybe sage.
Yes, it's a sage. I'll cross-post. Thanks, Dorothy!
This was vaguely familiar so I've been scouring my herbal books and find that sage is considered incompatible with cucumbers or Rue. It is also not recommended to be planted with onions.
I have seen this discussed many times but no conclusive evidence that the ornamental salvias have the same effect as sage.
On a side note, sage is a good companion with beans, cabbage, carrots, Marjoram, peas, Rosemary, strawberries, tomatoes. It repels the bean beetle, cabbage moth, carrot fly and slugs.
Thanks, Podster! It really did seem to affect my melons, so that makes sense since they're related to cucumbers. And it didn't bother my beans. I'll have to try it with broccoli and carrots.
Plant relationships are interesting; I just thought I'd put this out here to see what people thought. Maybe someone else will find this thread and be helped by it!
Victoria Blue is one of my favorite flowers; the blue is bright enough to stand out, and it's gorgeous mixed in with zinnias. It adds the color that zinnias lack, and balances the planting. I also really liked blue lobelia with orange marigolds; what a stunning combination that was! I love to mix flowers in with my vegetables, but I don't want to trade practicality for aesthetics.
"I love to mix flowers in with my vegetables,"
That's some more of your artistic talent.
Probably, Dorothy! I scarcely went into my studio all summer because gardening scratched my creative itch, but I've done two paintings of blueberry pickers since it started to die down.
Leslie