To begin with, new member here at Dave's so would appreciate any comments if I violate protocol with questions, comments, etc. Have read the rules and have been on several garden and photo forums before but each forum if different so want to make sure I get off to a good start with the participants here...
Me: Retired, Southeast Dallas County native, have been gardening one way or another for probably 40+ years and both my back and knees will attest to that if you ask them... Names (both plant and people's) usually elude me after the first couple of minutes so please forgive if I occasionally have to describe something instead of actually naming it.
On to the sage question... I've planted pineapple sage more times than I can count because the plant is pretty and the fall blooms seem very popular with my small herd of resident hummingbirds. Nice plant, minimal care, no major bug or disease issues... what's not to like? As the years have gone by though, I'm running out of room to plant anything that grows much bigger than your average garbage can and can take the odd combinations of sun and shade that I've ended up with in my smallish back yard. Just this morning, I believe I heard Neil Sperry (radio show) say that this particular sage could be trimmed/pinched back about mid summer to keep it smaller and more compact. Does anyone have experience with that process and if so, what would be the latest that one should stop pinching/trimming? Note that I understand the mechanical end of it, just not the timing so that the flower buds wouldn't be affected.
As long as I've been gardening, there are still things a million things I don't know and I'm not afraid to ask questions so all replies will be appreciated.
Thank you,
Steve W in Mesquite, TX
Introduction + Pineapple Sage question
Welcome from another fellow Texan! While I can't answer your specific question, if you are on Facebook, Neil has a page and is super about answering questions such as that on it. I know we all catch snippits of info off the radio show that often need further clarification and the FB page is perfect for that. He's such a wealth of information and so generous with his knowledge!!
I wish I could help with your question, I only grew Pineapple sage once, very pretty but didn't survive the winter.
Hi & welcome! I'm in the same position as Josephine, I tried it once but didn't have much luck with it.
Does it overwinter or do you collect seed? Indian summer, or excessively high heat with dry conditions will shock it. Usually pinch back the bloom parts for a nothr bloom wave WHILE it growin earlier parts of the year. That makes it want to keep attempting to reseed itself and keep grrowing, then late summer it slows.
Welcome, Steve...I usually give my salvias...even the non-hardy ones...a good trim around July 4th -- just easy for me to remember. I trim terminus if I have a lot of time, but trimming deeper doesn't seem to interfere with the blooming...I do love this plant, but since it is not hardy for me -- south of you -- I usually take a few good cutting in October before an early cold snap gets it...
Welcome to the Texas Gardening forum. I was interested as I love Pineapple Sage but can't seem to nurse it through the summers here. Thanks Kit for that validation!!! lol
When you do trim the Pineapple Sage, add a few of the leaves to your brewing tea, either hot or cold. It will give a wonderful pineapple flavor to what every you brew.
Podster, I have trouble too getting pineapple sage to survive the summer. I finally gave up on one this weekend. Can anyone share their tips for success?
It likes spring. Like most of the lamiacea family, mine dies too. so does the lemon thyme, and basils, tho the basils seem to be about blooming now, Good luck guys.
My thanks for the responses...
First off, I made a conscious decision several years ago, mostly because of space requirements in my small yard, that I would care for all my plants as best as possible but I no longer try to overwinter some plants such as the sage when it was far cheaper and easier to buy a small transplant or two each year and start over. Plant heroics are a wonderful trait and the sign of a good gardener but at my house, if it doesn't do well or dies despite the proper care, it's a sign that it wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Let me add here that my current practices or comments are not a condemnation of how other people garden but rather, are just a reflection of my own particular gardening methods and years of observations in my own yard or garden(s)...
In this particular case, I grow the p-sage mostly for the hummers it brings in at late summer and fall and have little interest in the plant otherwise other than as a filler.
These plants are located in a small center bed with some combination of full sun and/or dappled shade throughout the daylight hours and are watered and fertilized only when everything else in that bed is tended to although they often tend to droop somewhat in the heat of the day between watering's.
As to seeds, I religiously collected seeds from anything that actually HAD seeds for many years and shared with garden friends but eventually found that I had far more seeds stored away than I had friends that wanted them so nowadays, I may save a few here and there but overall, I don't spend a lot of time with it.
And to Aggiegal and Kittriana, I'll try your pinching/trimming advice and see what happens.
Thanks again to all who replied.
Steve W
TXskeeter lover your screen name and welcome. I have never had success with pineapple sage and am relieved to see it is not just me. I have always figured it was something I did. I am not done trying when I locate a plant or some seeds as maybe a little shade??? This will be my last attempt after I heard the others here say it is the heat.
I trim my red salvia and it continues to come back and bloom. I wouldn't hesitate at least trying 1 or 2 plants to see how it goes. If you have plenty of seeds you have nothing to lose.
I can send you some red salvia seeds to plant for the critters like hummers if you would like. What zone are you?
To: ilovejesus99
I learned many years ago that the "full sun" designation on plant labels doesn't necessarily mean full TEXAS sun which is hot, direct, and usually accompanied by low humidity levels, either by drought or otherwise. I've also learned that in Texas, N TX at least, many plants labeled for full sun do quite well with only four to six hours of morning or evening sun or very bright/dappled shade and this is true of the pineapple sage. True, you often give up a small portion of flowers but the option then becomes 'do I want a few less blooms or no plant at all?'. In the end, it boils down to the individual plant and how badly do I want it to do what the books say it will do given 'optimum growing conditions' which few home gardeners rarely have.
At some point, my growing regimen became more of a continuous 'trial garden' than any given expectation of "this is supposed to grow here so why didn't it?" It's usually somewhat simple to figure out if you make a mental list of what, where, why, and how the plant is growing.
To be sure, I don't press my luck growing 'full sun' plants in heavy shade nor 'full shade' plants out in the middle of the yard where they are exposed to full intense direct light 8 or more hours a day but with a little forethought, you CAN cheat a bit here and there with no ill effects. And if a plant isn't doing well, a quick inspection at different points during the day may pinpoint the issue.
As an example, the pineapple sage in question here tends to wilt slightly during midafternoon and perks back up after the temps go down. The soil is moist, it's well mulched and fertilized (mostly with purchased cow manure compost as are all my plants), and shows no signs of insect damage or fungus problems. By deduction then, even if I was to keep the soil even more moist as the visual inspection would seem to indicate, the issue is not with the soil moisture content but rather that moisture transpiration through the leaves at that time of day is faster than the root and water transfer system through the stems can handle. The solution then becomes only to do what I'm doing already and little more unless later visuals indicate some type of real issue.
Another example might be that way back when I had a big enough yard to indulge all my growing fantasies but very little money to do so, I often had to substitute home remedy methods to extend what plants I did manage to acquire and this included extending the life of tomato plants in my then veggie garden. While everyone else's tomato plants were being burnt to a crisp in early fall, I drove tall stakes in the ground along the row and shaded the plants mid day with a cover of cheese cloth. The white cloth still let plenty of light in while reflecting a portion of the sun's direct overhead rays, lets moisture through where there is a heavy dew or rain, and at that time some years ago, was cheaper than any other covering one could obtain or imagine. In late fall, I was still getting nice ripe tomatoes when all the neighbors were groaning that their plants had withered completely away.
Of course, times have changed and far more products are available that do exactly what I did with cheap cheese cloth but from the example, you can still see that even with minimal resources, your best garden tool is still your brain and your ability to solve problems given clues.
Thats how it works in Texas, yup. I just reached home, rain everywhere but here, and we are having conserve water signs pop up really fast. Normally at least we have humidity...there are still mustangs on the vines, some things I just don't see wasting the efforts for, the female hummers are here, I gathered up all my feeders, and filled em, I hear abt 8, see 4 at a time. Am discovering a few plant tuoghness surprises as well- agastache tea hysop delicate little fragrant is doing well and blooming under the dead parsley/tomato, but summer savory is a crispy crittur. Basils are trying to top the asparagus that went to fern, and bees and butterflies were apparently drawn to the watering I did, then there are the weeds, yellow lantana, red, white and deep purple salvias, Texas everblooming sage, mexican heather (pink), mexican petunias, sago palm, esperanza, variegated ginger, bulbine, rosemarys, oregano, that are just totally indifferent to no water.
TXSkeeter - welcome. Am I understanding you correctly in that you basically have more p. sage than you would like? Awesome, dude! I grew it almost year round when I lived in Austin, but for the life of me I can't keep it alive for more than a few weeks here in Dallas. And I buy from locally owned garden centers. I am relieved to hear that others have problems in this area so it's not just me. But that doesn't make it any better. This is one of my favorite herbs. And I always had trouble leaving some of those tasty flowers for the butterflies and hummers.
I can only repeat what others have said. If you pinch it, it will grow.
Had 2 large herb beds and would always be nibbling as well as picking whatever was growing. Then would throw all of the pickin's in a large basket kept by the tea kettle. Also near the 'make your own daily salad dressing' area.
Would like to add that another favorite herb that I've been unable to grow here in Dallas is Lemon Verbena. Anyone have any luck with it?
Sorta weird that I could easily grow p. sage and lemon verbena in Austin but not in Dallas. But, yup, it's TX.