Tips

Salvias – Expert Tips on How to Grow These Long-Lasting Garden Flowers



Salvias add flower colour to your garden throughout summer and autumn, often flowering for months at a time. Top salvia expert William Dyson of @Great Comp Garden and Dyson’s Nurseries explains how to choose, grow and prune these beautiful flowers.
00:00 Welcome
00:15 Dyson’s Nurseries: https://www.dysonsalvias.com/
Great Comp Garden: https://www.greatcompgarden.co.uk/
00:52 Why you should grow salvias
01:25 Where can you grow salvias?
02:06 What plants go well with salvias?
03:10 Can you grow salvias with roses?
03:50 Growing salvias with fruit trees
04:27 Can you grow salvias in pots?
05:23 Why isn’t my salvia flowering?
05:36 Do you need to fertilise salvias?
05:53 What pests or diseases do salvias get?
05:56 Capsid bug on salvias
07:01 When to plant salvias
07:32 How to prune salvias (also how to deadhead salvias)
09:20 Do you need to water salvias?
09:40 What do you do with salvias in winter?
10:53 Should I mulch salvias and if so, what with?
11:45 Are salvias good for wildlife?
12:43 Can salvias be moved?

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31 Comments

  1. Another terrific interview! Mr. Dyson knows his salvias! Sage/salvias were always purple or blue, so these new colors are exciting. I bought the cherry-red 'greggii' recently (two sad-looking plants in one tiny plastic pot, for $2.50 on a clearance shelf). After a good chop and some regular water, it flowered nicely. Time to tease the roots apart and transplant them into their own pots. (Autumn is dry here). Lemon Vebena (Aloysia citriodora), grows well in the same conditions. Its flowers are tiny, but the leaves smell like lemon (can be used as an herb or for making tea). I thought my woody old plant was dead, but I cut it back hard, and new sprouts came up from the root, just as he said.

  2. Alexandra, I always get useful advice from your videos. I pruned my salvias in the spring correctly, but it’s good to know I can cut them back mid summer for another flush of blooms. Seeing flowers only on the tips has been bothering me for months! Salvias are one of my favorite perennials – they bloom prolifically, require little maintenance and very important for my area, the rabbits leave them alone.

  3. I have a big problem with deer but they don’t like Salvia so thank you for this. More Salvias for me

  4. I have 3 Salvia Nemorosa ost friesland variety in my front garden and I love it's vibrant purple shade, almost fluorescent. I did fed my salvia this spring with manure pellets. I do have clay soil, but it is heavily enhanced with compost by now. Good to know that they don't necessarily need fertilization. So I will skip using the pellets next year, but am going to add compost this fall on the front garden. Since two years I am using a company nearby that sells peat free compost in bulk for a cheap price. Really loving the results, also for newly dug borders in the back garden. Beneath the paving is always a layer of sand, which I replace with the compost. The plants seem to love it and are doing well.

  5. Thank you, what beautiful examples of flowering gardens you shared! I grow mostly natives, zone 7a, and the only two salvias that are endemic to my area are Salvia lyrata (lyre-leaf) and Salvia urticifolia (nettle-leaf sage). Both are blue and not as showy as the ones on the video, but the bees LOOOOOOVE them, and since I plant for wildlife, that makes them beautiful to me. I actually like lyre-leaf very much. It's not very tall, so I have masses of them in front of borders. The basal leaves remain through most of winter and have a purple-red tinge to the veins and edges, so they are often a good surprise to notice "perking up" after a frosty day.

  6. I have 5 white salvias and one purple
    one.I love them!All the pollinators are all over them.I am in New Jersey and they are still flowering.After their first flowering is done I do cut them back and in a few weeks they are in full bloom again.I do prune the spent flowers every 3 weeks or so.During the drought this summer I gave them each a gallon of water once a week they don't necessarily need it but I do see them perk up when they get it.This is also the first time I just fed them once at the beginning of the season and they did great.Thanks for the Salvia Show!!!😊

  7. Dear Alexandra, I'm a great fan of your YouTube channel, thank you for being so sincere and benevolent…I've learnt so much from your videos. Greetings from Croatia! 🤗💚

  8. Excellent video. I had a love affair with Salvias 2 years ago and so I have quite a few different ones. I find I hate to waste the trimmings or accidental broken pieces so so matter what time of the year here in Adelaide South Australia I just turn them into either shorter cuttings or sometimes I leave them as rather large cuttings, poke a piece of bamboo the length of the part of the cutting I have removed the lower leaves and just stick them in the ground. More often than not they take and because my garden is small and quite full I find I have plants to give to family, friends and neighbours x 🌼🌼🌼🙏😇🇦🇺🌼🌼🌼🕊️

  9. This was SOOOOOOOO helpful. Thank you both for taking the time to put this together and post it for all of us to see. Take care and have a good week. DA

  10. Thank you for what you do! You have a gift! Great interview and learned a lot. I love salvia! Seems they do better each year.

  11. Excellent video, great tips. I've bought my first ever salvias this year and they're giving a great display. I shall be buying more next year, try different ones for different locations. Thank you 😊

  12. Thank you for always taking us to interesting gardens and experts on plants. I always learn a lot!

  13. Thank you from Melbourne, Australia ☺️Salvias grow well in our climate & are great for attracting small wrens & finches. There was lots of great information in this video (as usual), & an especial thanks for taking the time to write the varieties on the screen so we know which is which!

  14. What a great video! Thank you. I am forwarding the link to our garden club! I find my Amistad survive the winter (usually) but I had 2 ‘Love & Wishes’ in the same bed that didn’t make it, and I’m in Hampshire! Would it help to mulch these PLUS put an upturned clay pot over the top? They quite quickly become quite big plants to dig up each year! I have some in pots too, no problem moving those snow I have a little trolley!

  15. I see I've already communicated on this video in the past. I just listened to it again and still learnt from it. Very interesting and informative. Thank you for asking great questions and getting honest answers. Your guests are amazing x 🧡💛🧡🙏😇🇦🇺🧡💛🧡🌼🕊️

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