salvia winter care

Hi,
Ive had a "hot lips" for a couple of years now which ive hacked back late autumn and its always done well.
I went to Newby hall this year and came away with 3 new salvias
Microphylla "newby hall" bigger leaves, red flowers
Salvia "stormy blue" long stems small leaves blue flowers
Greggii x serphllfolla, long stems small leaves and purple flowers

All labels said they require protection in the winter but the chap on the counter said they should be as hardy as my hot lips.
Can anyone tell me what the best plan is to try and keep them safe? I dont have a greenhouse for overwintering cuttings. I did wonder about the garage windowsill (unheated) or a spare room sill.
Fleecing or pruning of the main plants?

Thanks
D

 

Hi exlabman

They are all essentially the same type. Microphylla and gregii are quoted as different species but they are virtually the same. And Salvia 'Stormy Blue' is a cross between microphylla and gregii. No one knows exactly what 'Hot Lips' is, as it was a chance find in a garden in Mexico.

You don't have to cut them back in autumn as they are shrubs rather than herbaceous plants. But they come back well so it probably won't do them any harm.

They are a bit borderline in hardiness. I have a microphylla outside that I cover with fleece and it has done well for several years. It got hit last winter, though part survived, but this may be due as much to old age as the cold. They only live about 4 or 5 years. However I also lost several small ones that I had grown from seed and left outside, though some others survived. So I would be inclined to protect them over the winter.

My inclination would be either the garage window sill or the spare room. In the garage it will lose its leaves and go dormant. So it won't want any water and will need very little light. In a spare room, depending on the temperature, it may hold onto its leaves and continue trying to grow slowly. So it will need a bit of water and will need some light.

 

Having lost my Salvia 'Hot Lips' last winter am most interested to hear about others surviving in much cooler areas than here, What's the secret?

This year have bought another plant and have taken a few cuttings as a 'try on' - will them put some mulch on and hope for the best.

 

My 'HotLips' survived outside last winter despite the unusual cold (for the South East, at least) with no protection. Some parts of it didn't regenerate but it still managed to form a sizeable shrub this season. It's in a very dry bed and I suspect (although it is just my personal hunch) that this helped. The more water, the more ice around the roots the plant has to endure when things start to freeze.

Your plants should be fine on the garage windowsill. Don't write them off, however unpromising they look in the spring. They can regenerate even if the top growth has died.

 

I am sure you are right about the dry ClaraLou. Most Salvias like dry conditions, so our winter wet does them no good.

 

One of the best links below for Salvia - generally pretty much on the money in terms of hardiness in my (admittedly limited) experience.

http://www.greatcompgarden.co.uk/salvia-mail-order-catalogue-no2-2012.pdf

 

I lost my young salvia in the heavy snow we had in 2010. Thankfully I had taken cuttings and so they went into the ground in the spring of 2011.

I now take cuttings of Salvias every year now and keep them in the greenhouse in case we get another hard winter like we did in 2010/2011. Does take much time for them to take root either, so it's not as much hassle as taking cuttings from some other plants.

Thought I would also mention that the cuttings I took in 2010 and planted in spring 2011 ended up having a ton (literately) of builders sand dumped on them soon after I stuck them in the ground. They were buried in there for a few days, thought they wouldn't survive but decided to dig them out and replant them elsewhere.

They shot up within a month and are still going strong to this day.

 

Interesting stuff, thanks. I never plant stuff in the ground (to stay) in their first year. Somehow I consider they're not big enough! OK I've got greenhouses (sounds posh but one old heated lean to conservatory and a fifty year old cold green house with the odd plastic sheet replacing glass as frame bent!) Otherwise bedroom windowsills take pots. I use grit all the time when planting as lose more through wet than cold on heavy soil. Otherwise I use pine needles and dry (at start) wood chips on anything relatively young. I have lists of supposed hardiness either the words or figures (-10 sounds great!) checked everywhere til I've got my own lists! Talking to others is best somehow!

 

Now April 2022 so garden thinking about Spring/Summer! Some planted out Salvias beginning to show buds or even leaves. Protected ones obviously further ahead so watching night temps carefully and 'hoping' for improvements! Changing soil/composts in pots by digging plant out with good root block and transplanting into another pot or same pot after emptying rest out! We keep our own lists of hardiness and different spots of our garden - some areas much colder on different sides of house and soil consistency! Drainage much the most important thing about growing salvias in my opinion!

 

Further to last post, I've put out a large pot of S. confertiflora out in the rain this morning as its looking a bit 'house bound' today. Needs cutting down I think? All those cuttings!!

 

My S confertiflora stayed outside all winter in the ground. Still has foliage although, like the S guaranitica, this is rather yellow. The S involuctra lost it's foliage and is just shooting. I did take cuttings of these and Amistad. S guaranitica has had flowers on it except for February and is now flowering again, the S microphylla "Kew Red" flowered through the winter as usual.