my black and blue salvia seems to be struggling.The leaves have a kind of a yellow cast to them, not a deep green like other salvias i have. I think it may be a case of too much water as it gets watered from the lawn sprinkler due to the shape of the beds and we have a lot of clay in the soil here.
Also there is a new tiny one comng up about 6 inches from the main plant. Do these only propagate by seed or do they send out runners from the roots? Please let me know what conditions they like best and if i should move it when would be the best time? thanks, nancy
black and blue salvia
dunno. I had a lovely plant last year and died a miserable death, rather unexpectedly. hope yours survives. mine was wanted inground, part sun.
I have several of the Black and Blue Salvias. I have one that's doing exactly what yours is and the others are fine. I think it's stress from the heat and sun. My kinda' sickly one is in full sun all day, the others have a bit of dappled shade for a small part of the day. I think they'll be OK as the sickly one did the same thing last year and came back gangbusters when it cooled down just a little. I'd take my luck with leaving it where it is, because transplanting at this time of year would surely do it in. Mine are in raised beds, sprinkler system and part to full sun. Hope this helps.
Same here. They don't like full sun. Moved them this spring and put them behind a Texas Star Hibiscus (they tend to flop, too, so they just sort of fill in around the bottom) and out of the hot mid afternoon sun. They liked it and are going gangbusters. Looks neat with the red, too. Mine have excellent drainage. Yellowing leaves are often a sign of too much water. And as you know, clay holds that water....
I'll move them when it cools down, It will cool down sometime before the next millenium won't it????
Mine is in the full hot sun and even though i don't have a lot of shade, I can put it shift it over behind a wax myrtle..It probably is a combination of too much sun and too much yucky high sodium city water .I love the color of the blooms, but that sickly yellow on the leaves takes away some of the appeal..
Maybe you should try some nitrogen or ironite....? Your pH might be a tad on the alkaline side, and keeping the salvia from getting the iron it needs out of the soil. Are all of the leaves yellowish? Or just the newer ones, or the older ones? They're in raised beds, right?
I've used fish emulsion and HastaGro on a rotating,regular basis this season.I also put down some green sand early this year. Everything else in the garden is going great. The leaves do remind me of an iron problem, but i can't see how with all the supplements i have given them..I have also seen the yellowish leaves occassionally when i see this plant for sale in a nursery. but i have also seen it for sale with dark green heathy leaves..they aren't in raised beds and i think due to the way the lawn slopes and some drainage problems it is too much water/and or sun. I'm hopeful that once I move it later this fall it will perk up.
Mine was planted about 2 months ago and did NOTHING until another plant grew and almost covered it up and now it's blooming! I had seen the yellowing--like everyone is saying--but now all is deep green! Must be the sun/dappled sun thing.
BTW: Anyone like the "Black and Blue Salad" that is so popular on new menus lately? For those not "in the know" it's a green salad with Blackened steak on top...and then with Blue cheese throughout the whole salad. Yum!!
We have several places here in Austin that serve it but I like Threadgills' rendition. :)
My black and blue still seems to be blooming....tho it does seem to be yellowing a bit in this heat. They're doing ok in full sun...but I've also tried to plant taller things around them to sort of shield them and give them a hand in this hot blazin' summer!
Here's one of mine near my Dynamite Crape Myrtle.. :)
Tx T I see that you have concrete nearby too. That will give off a lot of heat too. I've decided I need to plant more shrubs in certain places to help throw some shade/part shade for some of my plants. I figure our summers will be like this for several years to come. Don't mean to sound negative, just probably a fact. So I might as well try to give some of my plants a little relief from the boiling hot sun. Right now I'm using two old umbrellas! LOL They sure beat nothin'. I'm sure folks laugh as they drive by but I don't care. lol I live in the country on a dead end dirt road so I know most everybody that travels this road.
Lin
lolol Dancey...I thought about doing that myself...esp in my back yard...its brutal back there...no shade trees big enough to do much of anything...what with our newly built house and a square back yard. I do have another blue and black salvia in the back rock garden...but a globe mallow is sort of shielding it a tiny bit from that blistering all-day sun. A rattle bush is growing over it too...but they don't put out any shade at all....
And yes....that sun heats the cement and limestone like you wouldn't believe! :o
Tx T what is a rattle bush?
Dancey.....Its called Sesbania Herbacea...or rattlebush, rattlebox tree....native to Central Texas...and a large rascal that decided to plant itself right smack dab in the middle of my native rock garden, lol. Its so unusual looking, and a true native, that I decided to leave it...and now its about 6 1/2 feet tall...check out the web page that was given to me here on DG... :)
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/courses/bio406d/images/pics/fab/sesbania_herbacea.htm
Melanie
Oh ok. We have those too. Especially along the creek bed. I didn't know what they were. Thanks for the link.