We recently purchased a home and the former owner gave us a great start with native plants! Unfortunately, I’m new to gardening but want to be a good steward of the plants.
Can anyone provide maintenance tips for the Saliva and Gregg’s Mistflower (pictured). I’m not sure if they should be pruned or if they are too far gone to be saved. I’ve been taking classes at the Wildflower Center to try to learn but any info would be wonderful!!
by Agreeable-Major-2635
2 Comments
My mistflower looks like this right now. It’s fine! It just looks tired because it’s the end of summer, could probably use some more water because this has been an insanely dry October. I’d prune it back from the path. You can prune dead bits to make it look better. It will come back in the spring looking great and attract a lot of butterflies.
Those species can be pruned anytime. They will also die back in the winter so you should prune them (and most natives that are not evergreen) to the ground in February. That allows the stalks to be used as habitat throughout the winter. I’d also water them and prune any dead or unwanted plant matter now. Salvia likes to be pruned throughout the year a few times as well to keep it less leggy and make it bloom more. Many people will it prune near to the ground in August for a fall flush. Both plants will regrow from the ground, so don’t forget to give the roots some water in winter if it’s dry.