Tri-color sage.. is anyone growing it for 2010

Ok, it took me nearly a decade to get a tri-color sage plant and now I have killed it or so I think!

Does it go dormant? The cutting I took off of it died at the same time too so.. what gives. It had no indication of diseas, just up and croaked!

I just brought the thing in the house too, hoping I could winter it indoors.
The pic is of it mid spring....it was very nice up until a week or so ago.
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Also, you can join me at my here where we are chatting about al sorts of herbs!

Here is the link back to the thread I mentioned above!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1022424/#new

So ok, now about that tri-color....

Blossom, I can't get tricolor sage to overwinter here in zone 5 in NY state. Purple sage will overwinter. As will golden sage, golden-edged sage, lavender sage, Bergarrten, dwarf, Holt's Mammoth, Sage of Bath, etc. I tried bringing in tricolor one year and it died round about January. Don't know if it needs cooler, drier inside or what!

I think maybe drier. I have killed sage with overkindness (water and nutrients).

hmmmm... Well, could be my water too. Its high in lime or calcium... My golden and the varigated, so far no problem.

I was just wondering if I should throw the tri out as I did not know if it was one to go dormant. Maybe I will chuck it into the GPS for the winter for grins and see what happens and if the thing revives come spring! If not then its toast.

So much for kitchen gardening with the tri!

Just kind of surpized me that it up and died after I brought it in.

My tap water is well water.. so no filtrations of any kind... Also, I think I may have forgot to fertilize it....I got so many plants around here somethings sometime get missed. Usually use the Oscomote...oops!

Thought to it was odd that the cutting expired at the same time!

Dear BLOSSOMBUDDY, I grow normal green sage, purple sage, the famous Cyprus sage, and tricolour as well.
With the tricolour I plant it in John Innes NO 3, and leave it alone, apart from cutting it back for culinary use.
For you cannot have roast pork without sage and onion stuffing!
Then in England the winters can be wet and cold, and sage does not like being wet and cold, so I lift it, repot it and put it in my cold frame.
Then it does not get wet, so overwinters quite easily.
It was minus 16.2℉ in February and it quite happily survived that.
I think it is keeping it dry (ish) over the winter that does it.
My cold frame has soil in it so I plunge the pots with the sage in the soil.
Regards from England.
Neil.

Thanks Neil! Hmm not sure if I may have overwatered it to "kill" it or setit into its dormancy.. I did put it out in the GH for winter.. If I get a chance to repot it before the bitter cold I will but time will tell.

My well water can be really fickle. I can go on watering plants with it for a time and then all of a sudden seems there is a disagreement in the plant and the water.. like maybe a lime flush in the well or over deposit of calsium etc. We are very high in iron.

C'mon over to this thread if you are into a variety of other herbs! We got some nice chatter going on there too!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1022424/

Now you say the tri might winter...hmmm maybe there is hope! It did not get al that big for me, but I enjoyed it.

If you cut it back, will it tend to get bushier or what? Mine stayed rater small.

Dear BLOSSOMBUDDY, there is calcium in our tap and rain water, and that does not bother sage. For where it grows in the wild they get a bit of that.
I do not feed mine as the John Innes does that, and the more you cut it back to make stuffing, the more it grows, like most herbs!
Regards from England.
Neil.

Salvia rosea will overwinter in zone 5a (I have had it for three years, and it's actually spreading a bit) but I understand that none of the others (purpurea, tricolor) do. I got my seed from The Fragrant Path. It's to the left of the pic and blooms with pink flowers. This pic is from 2007, and I still have it, plus a bit more. I really like it.

Donna

I am in 9b now - vastly different from 5a- but, moved here after 7 years in 5a. I had tricolored sage and though it died back like my other sages in winter, it came back left well enough alone with just some mulching. I was high desert though so, it was not wet as Neil suggested might be a problem. Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps hun. Hope you didn't loose it...that's never fun.

Hugs,

Jamie

Well, mine is in a pot getting well water.. it could very well come back in the spring, we shall have to see.

My well has a lot of iron, calcium, very hard water

Thanks DonnaM. Good info for me.

I'm in 5b and mine survived last winter (max low was -20 briefly). It is in a sheltered area near a south facing wall though. Also - I don't water much (I'm in a dry climate less than 18 inches precip/year). In fact, sages are among the few things I haven't managed to kill with my neglectful watering, alkaline soil and lack of fertilization. I did kill some ornamental salvias and an agastache that I've had for a few seasons by fertilizing my raised bed this year, so I'm going to stick with my neglectful gardener routine from now on.

only 20 huh? I wish! We get nastier than that...Try -20 and windchills to eat your teeth!

Last year I had pipes freeze 3.5feet under ground.

I did say -20. without wind chill.

Awww thats a heat wave! LOL!

I been in it with 85 below chill factors... seen a frost line down near 6 feet, but thats pretty rare.

Was on my way to the mile high once and they kicked me out of the mountains...so you can keep that snow! LOL! Guess they dint like the fact my car was white and no snow chains!

Right now I got it in the hip.. so I know theres a weather change coming here that aint no good.