I'm a huge fan of
Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' -- actually, I think everyone is. Dark blue flowers, contrasting black calxy -- it is a supermodel of a plant. And, for me, tender. But: I learned something: It produces tubers. So, after our recent freeze, I went out with a garden fork and popped the plants. Sure enough, nice, fat, funny looking tubers. They've now been wrapped loosely in news paper, popped in a plastic grocery bag, and are sitting in the basement to wait for spring. (BTW: I used to avoid tender bulbs like dahlia and gladiolus because gardening books I'd read talked of storing them over the winter in damp but not wet sand (?) and such nonsense. But I've found a sheet of newspaper, a loosely closed plastic bad and cool basement work perfect.) Sure beats re-buying them every year!
24 comments:
Thank you for this! I do love B&B salvia but was disappointed the one year I had it in my garden. I will try it again next year and save the tubers. The same thing can be done with flowering tobacco. At least, my sister in law wintered hers over in the house one year.
Did you find the stems of the salvia to be brittle? I started it out in a container by the front door, but passersby (okay, children) seemed to break a stem every time they walked by it.
I never knew that and it is so great to know. Thanks so much for the tip.
Kathy, yes, the stems are very brittle. I had no idea about flowering tobacco! That's great to know. I'll have to try it next year. I always overwinter a bunch of tropicals, but ones with bulbs or tubers are great because they don't need some of my limited window space.
I have grown S. guaranitica 'Black & Blue for several years but only had it come back one year. Usually I get impatient and dig the plants up too soon in spring only to find out that there was still some life in those tubers. I am trying your method this year on a couple of my plants. I hope it works out as well for me. I also want to try it on one of my Black and Blue hybrids that had pale lavender flowers since I didn't take cuttings before our first frost.
It has now been a couple years since this post about overwintering black & blue. What kind of success have you had with this method? When you say "loosely closed plastic bag", how much of an opening do you leave? Can the root ball/tubers really stay moist enough for four months if the bag is not shut?
Dan,
I do this every year with good success. I use the exact same method for my dahlias and such as well.
"Loosely closed" isn't a good term is it? I should edit that. I basically put them in a plastic grocery bag, then tie it partially, but not completely, closed, to allow some air flow. However, the basement I store them in is unfinished and leaks water rather badly, so it is quite humid down there. If the place you are storing them is better built, drying out could be more of a problem.
Works for me too!
Also works for Salvia patens.
My new tuberous discovery this year has been Datura wrightii, so I'll find out next spring about this one.........
I stored a few black & blues and one blue ensign in my friends' cool basement(should be near 50 degrees, but I'll check for sure next week) a couple weeks ago. Today I checked them again to see what the moisture level inside the bags was like. I was quite shocked to see that the three black & blues were not dormant at all, but were very noticeably growing. One of the plants has downright exploded with tons of shoots and runners. Obviously, I don't want to see that kind of growth until spring. Perhaps the plants were awaken by the temporary higher warmth when they spent a few days in my basement. It seems I have no choice but to bring the plants back outside next week when we have a mild stretch of weather(high temps in the 30s). Hopefully, that will get them back into a dormant state.
Dan,
When I pull mine out in the spring, I usually see a few shoots beginning to show, but not much. I've never checked them during the winter, so I'm not sure when they start growing, but now seems much too early. I'm guessing the basement is simply too warm. I wonder if you could try the refrigerator? Black and Blue is pretty cold tolerant, so I don't think it would harm them.
Today I learned the temperature in my friends' basement is 54 degrees. They went to Florida for the winter and set their house to 55 degrees. I thought they set it to 50, and that it might be a few degrees cooler in the basement, but apparently not. I sure wish I had a room somewhere that stayed at about 45 degrees.
Right now I have the three black & blues sitting in their bags out in the cold(but not freezing) air. Once the cold penetrates the roots/tubers for a few days, I'll take them back to the basement.
My friend just told me I can set their house temperature down to 50 degrees. That should help to keep my plants dormant.
Hello, I live in zone 5 and overwinter my Salvia Black & Blue plants in the garage. After the first hard frost and before the ground is frozen, I cut down the stems, dig them up, and pot them. Then put the pots in the garage and give them a bit of water about once a month. In early spring they start to sprout shoots. Been doing this for about 3 years now, it works pretty well (lose an occasional plant). I love Salvia B&B.
I have a whole pot full of black and blue salvia and they have been in there under grow lights and heating mat for over a month. Not one Sprout! When I dug a few update are still hard and plump and healthy looking. But they won't Sprout! What gives here? Did I do something wrong? Are they like Delia's where they need a piece of the stem in order to be viable? Would love an answer to this. Thanks!
I forgot to hit the notify me button before my last comment! So I'll make a new comment. I have about 50 black and blue salvia tubers in a huge pot that has been under grow lights and on top of a heating mat for about a month or more. Not one Sprout! I dug up a few and they are healthy and hard and plump and I'm thinking alive? Are they like Dahlia tubers where they need a piece of the stem to sprout? Thanks everybody
I'm in southern Wisconsin... zone 4. I saved Black and Blue tubers last fall for the first time. It is now March 19. How soon might I take them out of the fridge and plant them in my large planters outside? If needed I can bring the planters into the garage on cold nights. I'm hoping to have blooms sooner than later for the hummers.
Is this the first time you have saved your black and Blues?
When it comes time to harvest them in the fall, I dig up the entire root ball and place them into a bag. From there, I put them in a cool dark closet. I'm not sure if putting them in the refrigerator was a good thing, but time will tell! I live on Cape Cod Massachusetts oh, and I got so bored during isolation with this coronavirus that I decided to unearth all of my tubers and black and Blues from the closet. They're all in pots now except for the black and blues. They are out in the light, and sprouting vigorously. And soon I will pop them up. Good luck to you!
One more short comment about black and blue salvia. They do not like to be divided! If they are not sprouting, and you dig them up and see beautiful firm tubers, that means nothing! I went through this myself and learn from the experience. Firm tubers do not protect whether they're going to sprout. You need to dig up the entire root ball for storage.
Thanks, Pam! Very helpful for for me since "Yes" it's my 1st time saving salvia tubers. Last fall, when I dug my black and blue salvia and found tubers, I unknowingly divided them. I've not looked at them in the fridge yet, but will do so without any high hopes. So you suggest taking a root ball out of its bag, place it into a pot indoors but out of the light, wait for it to sprout, then plant in a pot. Is that right? Do you divide the root ball at that time? Will the pot(s) be indoors by a window, or outdoors?
Hi Joel,
When I take my tubers out from Cold Storage, I pot them up and put them in the sunniest location I can find in my house. When the temperatures outside warm up, I plant them in the ground.
I live on Cape Cod so right now the temperatures are still too cold. They probably won't go in the ground until about May fingers crossed for April!
I have never tried dividing the root ball. Mostly because I get too busy in the summer with my garden business. But this year I just might take an axe and divide them. Since they have rested during the winter and they are growing shoots right now I can't see why dividing them would hurt!
Okay, I see. Sorry for misreading your original post which said you put them out IN the light. This all makes a lot more sense now. I just checked my tubers and they look just like they did when I put them in the fridge... several of them rolled up in a newspaper sheet (4 sets like that) sprinkled with water in a rolled up, unsealed plastic bag. Again, no high hopes, but I figure I'll plant them in pots in the house pretty soon and see how it goes. If some sprout, great! If not, I'll buy some new plants from the local garden center and next fall I'll put the root ball into cold storage. Thanks, again!
Thank you mine are stunning and I am going to give your method a try.
Mine have been growing out in the flower bed for probably 10 years.
I've raised bb for years in ohio. I also have basjoo bananna trees that I mulch with maple leaves in fall...all 6 bb returned and are 5 ft tall....%
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