here is a pic of one of my autumn rose sages.....note that the leaves are brown on the edges and the plant looks like it is loosing its bush i ness ...; BUT note new growth is beginning on the stem....; i haven't been watering these regularly....they just get indirect water if that makes sense from the sprinkler system....as for sun they only get a couple of hours of sun at the most.....what am i doing wrong?
I'm assuming this is salvia greggii in a rose color. If so, they could use more sun. I've grown them in deciduous shade where they got very little direct sun after the trees leafed out. They bloomed well until the trees leafed out, then bloomed hardly any. I moved them to sunnier spots. If you move yours, I'd wait until it's not so hot. Mine all get at least 4 hours of sun, and some considerably more. As to their losing bushiness, mine are several years old. In order to keep them from getting very woody and less bushy, I give them a hard pruning in early spring every second or third year. Usually sometime in July (soon now), I give them a hair cut, trimming off maybe 1/4th of the top, to deadhead and encourage a big fall bloom. I also root some every year, so if they look too bad, I replace them. I'm not sure what the brown on the leaves is. I've never lost any due to drought, but I do water them at least every 2 or 3 weeks, when it's real dry. If they are getting watered by your sprinkler system, I doubt that is the problem.
Here's info from DG
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/72610/index.html
Maybe it's not getting enough water?
when i say it gets indirect water, it doesnt have a sprinkler head on it....it just gets indirect water as it is in a bed by the lawn that is sprinklered......when i get up in the morning, the soil in the bed is not wet....but the color of the soil is darker due to moisture.....if i dig in the soil it is not muddy....but like soil.....; today i started watering them as we are in the 100 degree weather everyday....should i just deep water it say once a week while in this hot weather.....??
well, update here.....i just couldn't stand it watching these things dying....so i dug the dang things up.....i think i finally decided that they were getting too much water from my sprinkler system.....i wouldn't water them and they were showing with my water reader that it was really wet....so i have moved them to where they will only be watered by me and where they get more sun.....cross our fingers....and toes and everything else....thanks and i will keep you posted.....
