Non- blooming salvia "Black and Blue"

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Jun 17, 2007

I'm posting this for a friend who lives in southern Indiana. After admiring my Black & Blue salvias for several years, he went out & purchased one this spring & planted it in a container. His problem is that it appears healthy and growing but isn't producing any flower buds. He said he used potting soil, but not one that was amended with fertilizer. I know that the early buds on a black & blue can sometimes be tiny, but this one just seems to be producing leaves. Any ideas abt what to try? I never had any problems with them in containers, but last summer, when I had a yard to plant them in, they went crazy, got huge, bloomed abundantly, & attracted hummingbirds. Here's a picture of Neil's containers.
Pat H. in Cincinnati

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Jun 17, 2007

And now I can't get the picture to post because it's the wrong format. AAARRRGGHHH! Here's a picture of my plant that I had last year--- I bought it as a small annual and it bloomed and grew pretty quickly. You can see that it's something you plant for the bloom, not the foliage.
Pat

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jun 17, 2007

He might just need to give it more time, when you plant something it'll usually work on its roots first, then it'll put out new leafy growth, then it'll give you some blooms. It's got a pretty long bloom period so there's still plenty of time for it to bloom.

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Jun 18, 2007

Hi Goshsmom, I would agree that the salvia is a bit slow, however, if it is in a container with potting soil, it might well need extra watering and a good feed as you said the compost had none added, I know when I grow them, I always nip off the tiny growing tips off the top of the stems to help the plant bush out a bit, but a lot of people dont do this and have a good show of flowers, I am not too sure about the temp in his area, but maybe he has it in too hot a sun, this will also indicate that it needs more watering than yours, so that and feeding it maybe once a week with some liquide feed as he waters might help also, not too much feed, just as it says on the container, over strength feeding is worse than none at all, hope it helps. Good Luck, WeeNel.

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goshsmom Cincinnati, OH(Zone 6a) Jun 19, 2007

Thanks, ecrane and WeeNel. I'm passing both both your comments to my friend. I'm pretty sure he's in the same zone I am WeeNel (6). This time of year, our weather is either miserbly hot, or miserably hot and humid. It was 94 both yesterday and today.
The picture of my friend's plant shows a pretty bushy specimen, just no blooms! I did send him pictures of how tiny the blooms are to start off.
Hopefully, time and fertilizer will do the trick, and I can post a picture of it blooming next time I get to Indiana.
Pat

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