STELLAR SALVIAS
THEY’VE LONG BEEN YOUR BORDER FAVOURITE, BUT SALVIAS ARE NOW A SAGE GARDEN MAINSTAY
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areas will be able to grow many more.
What they don’t like is excessive waterlogging or cold, so plant them in your sunniest areas and add some horticultural grit to improve heavier soils.
Hot Lips,
Amethyst Lips,
Salvia discolor
To prolong flowering, remove flower spikes when faded but delay cutting back the plant completely until spring.
Salvias can be propagated by seed but the results are variable so if you
Salvia patens
want your favourite cultivar to come true, you need to take cuttings which you can do now, though earlier in the summer is the optimum time.
Select from a healthy looking nonflowering stem and remove the lower leaves which will reduce water loss while cuttings attempt to root.
Make your cutting just below a leaf node where growth hormones are most concentrated and pot in a cuttings compost mixed with horticultural grit.
Water in using a fine rose and leave to root in a warm environment, and in about three weeks they should be rooting for you.
Credit: crocus.co.uk
Great Comp Garden near Sevenoaks, Kent, is host to one of Europe’s largest salvia collections.
Run by the UK’s leading salvia expert, William Dyson, the sandy and sunny soil of Kent makes for perfect growing conditions. He has cultivated more than 200 hybrids and species at his nursery, and the gardens are open until the end of October where you can view and buy.
This weekend is the annual Great Comp Garden Summer Show which will host specialist nurseries as well as music and refreshments. Phone 01732 885094 or visit greatcompgarden. co.uk for more information.