Knowing how to deadhead salvias is important if you are growing them. This will help keep your salvias bushes looking great and will help encourage blooming.
What Are Salvias?
Salvias are a group of herbaceous, perennial plants. They are part of the mint family Lamiceae, which contains over 900 species.
These plants are found on every major continent in the world, except Antarctica. In some areas of the world, they grow into shrubs that remain green all year round, while in some places they will change color.
Most can be found in nurseries for purchase. One of the most commonly found species is Salvia nemorosa, which is also known as the woodland sage.
Salvias typically have dark purple stems and violet-blue flowers that grow in clusters of three above the leaves.
The best growing conditions for these plants include full sunlight and loose, well-draining soil. They are also drought-tolerant. This makes these beautiful shrubs suitable for areas that may not have high levels of water supply.
Because they grow into bushy shrubs, they are quite popular as garden boarders, both for fencing and for decorative purposes. They can grow to be about 18-36″ in being and can get up to 24″ wide. In order to make these hedges to look their best, they will need to be deadheaded.
What Is Deadheading?
Deadheading is simply just removing fading flowers from the tree, using scissors, hand pruners or any other cutting implement. This process encourages new growth and prevents plants from going to seed. It will cause the plant to direct its energy towards flowering, which is what you want.
Deadheading is a quick but tedious process. To be able to do it efficiently and with minimal irritation, it is best to have a sharp pair of pruning shears on hand.
If you deadhead your saliva, you will have beautiful blooms all summer long. So it is important to know how to do it properly.
The Best Time To Deadhead Salvias
Knowing when to deadhead salvias is another important factor in the care and maintenance of these shrubs. It is best to deadhead them in the middle of summer, once the blooms on the flower spikes start to fade and turn brown. You will also notice that browning starts to work its way up the stem of the tree, confirming that it is time to deadhead.
It is also at this time that the trees will start dropping their small seeds that look like nuts. If you cut these before the plant goes to seed, it can continue to bloom well into winter
Step By Step On How To Deadhead Salvias
Step 1: Choose the right time
Deadheading salvias in summer is the best. So it is best to wait for the middle of summer. By this time you will have enjoyed them and hopefully will not be difficult for you to get on with the deadheading.
Step 2: Have the right tools
The right tools are of utmost importance if you want to get this process right. Make sure you have clean and sharp pruning shears. The importance of having clean tools is o that you can avoid possibly spreading diseases. Use one tablespoon bleach solution in two cups of water. You can also use rubbing alcohol or another cleaning detergent ti thoroughly clean and disinfect them.
Dull or unsharpened shears can cause more harm than good when deadheading, and it will make the process much longer.
Once you have your tools ready, it is time to deadhead.
Step 3: Make the cuts
The best way to make the cuts is to look for the place where the stem of the plant meets the highest set of leaves. You will then use your shears to cut off or pinch off the entire stalk growing from there. This will help encourage new growth in that spot.
Step 4: Take care of your deadheaded salvias
Once you have finished deadheading your salvias, continue to take care of them as you had been before. Water them as usual and provide them with nutrients from either fertilizer or compost.
Should You Deadhead Salvias?
Whether or not you deadhead salvias, they will continue to grow if they are well taken care of. So should you deadhead salvias? The answer depends on what goal you aim to achieve with your shrubs. If you want them to go to seed because you want to grow more or for whatever other reason, you should not deadhead them. However, if you want to encourage them to flower instead, and make improve the look of your hedges, then you should absolutely deadhead them.
How To Keep Salvias Flowering
Deadheading is one of the best ways to keep your salvias flowering. If you do this and provide them with full sun exposure and well draining soil, you can keep them flowering well into winter. Alternatively, you can grow certain varieties in pots and keep them in an area where they will not be exposed to frost damage. Your salvias will therefore keep flowering for extended periods of time.
Conclusion – How To Deadhead Salvias
This article explained all about deadheading. What it is, its importance, the best time to do it, the tools that you need to do it, and a step-by-step on how to deadhead these stunning shrubs. We hope that all this information has made the idea of carrying out the task less daunting because now you know exactly how you are going to do it.
While the process of deadheading can be absolutely tedious and time-consuming, it is an overall satisfying task. To keep your spirits up while you are doing it, just keep in mind that the goal is to remove all the dead and wilted flowers that do not look good and this will encourage new blooms in the future which will add beauty to your garden. That should keep you going!
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Happy gardening.
An aquaculture specialist and freelance writer. Passionate about anything sustainable living, such as growing your own food, and if you can do it in conjunction with fish farming, even better! I currently work as an aquaculture researcher where I can expand and share my knowledge and skills on aquaculture, crop farming and adding value to wastewater by using it to grow food products. I enjoy reading and learning as much as possible, and writing is another avenue for me to share the knowledge I gain with others. I want my writing to inspire people to try their hand at gardening, whether indoors or outdoors. You can even start by keeping a few houseplants indoors to help you gain a bit of confidence if you need to.
