Re: pruning salvias
Nan Sterman wrote:
> I have several of the brittle, woody salvia-greggii type salvias that
> are in dire need of pruning -- I think. All of the foliage is
> towards the ends of the branches so the plants are all twigs in the
> center and not terribly attractive. I have been hesitant to prune
> them as I am concerned that cutting off all of the foliage will kill
> the plant. What pruning schema shall I use?
>
> Thanks!
Hi Nan:
My woody salvias look the same way at this point! And while they break
well into new growth from hard cutting +in early spring+, I'm not going
to prune them now. I'm concerned that we'll get lots more rain this
winter (I hope) and the plants will not be able to transpire that extra
moisture at their roots if a great quantity of their leaves are removed.
Rather, I remember something Alessandra posted at this time last year:
fall pruning is best confined to shaping. So I went over +lightly+
rounding them up. And will save my hard prune til the end of
February/March.
The exception is that monster, S. 'Waverly' which I think you could
prune any time you are in the mood!
Jan
--
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Jan Smithen,
Upland, California
jansmithen@earthlink.net
Sunset zone : 19
USDA zone : 10
http://home.earthlink.net/~jansmithen/
Visit the Los Angeles County Arboretum
Victorian Rose Garden website at:
http://victorian-rose.org/
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