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ellenrr_gw

Anyone sowing lavender or sage?

ellenrr
13 years ago

I sowed them both on Feb 21.

My memory of lavender year before last is that it sprouted in about 10 days, and it germinated very lushly.

To date, I have only 3 little sprouts - maybe bad seed.

Sage this is the 1st time I've tried it.

thanks for any feed-back,

ellen

Comments (12)

  • gardenweed_z6a
    13 years ago

    Haven't tried my hand at lavender yet--I've read it can be tough to keep happy & growing and I'd rather devote my time/effort to something less demanding. I WS both annual & perennial sage last year however:

    Salvia farinacea - blue sage WS 3/6; sprouted 4/7
    Salvia horminum - pink Clary salvia WS 4/11; sprouted 4/20

    Both grew into nice, healthy plants but only the pink bloomed and sparsely at that--maybe two or three blossoms. Since I was under the impression it was an annual, I did expect more blooms from it than I saw.

    I WS 'Merleau blue,' nemerosa 'Amethyst blue' & sylvestris this year. The Salvia sylvestris I got in trade was marked "original species from The Netherlands" so I'll be interested in seeing how that performs in our hot, dry summers.

  • countrycarolyn
    13 years ago

    I am currently growing lavender munstead (I think that is how it is spelled), I got the seeds in a trade either earlier in the year or even last year. The seeds seem to be germinating pretty good, they are slow growers though, they got to the cotyledon stage and kind of just halted.

    I am not sure if you are talking about the edible sage, like broad leaf sage but I had intended on starting a container of that here soon, but I haven't yet. As for the ornamental sage I have grown salvia victoria and salvia blue bedder extremely easy from seed.

  • norabelle
    13 years ago

    I am a couple zones colder than you (5a), and my lavender sprouts will not start appearing until sometime in April.

    I have found lavender to be slow to germinate and put out second and third sets of leaves. However, once July hits, the plants start to put out more foliage. Perhaps they are working on developing roots. The second and third years are when they look lush. (Perennial adage: the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they LEAP!)

    I have the same experience with rosemary. Perhaps the woodier perennial herbs are slower to get going because they need to spend so much energy below the soil to establish their roots. I wonder if sage--I was thinking you were asking about culinary sage--would fall into this category?

    cheers,
    Norabelle

  • floodthelast
    13 years ago

    I would wait and see if more of the seeds in the container don't germinate for you later on. I found my lavender stayed tiny till I planted it out in the summer. Then the heat seemed to do it worlds of good and it finally put on some real growth.

  • Edie
    13 years ago

    I'm also in a colder zone. I agree with flood. According to my notes I WS lavender "Lady" last year March 20, and got the first sprouts April 4th. They popped up a few at a time, and I didn't log it but I remember I was still getting new sprouts weeks later. I sowed more this year but they're still sleeping.

    Edie

  • northerner_on
    13 years ago

    I am up here in the north (Canada 5A) and have grown several types of ornamental sage quite successfully. The edible sage, Salvia Officianalis is perennial here and I have wintersown it a few times. After a few years it gets very woody and I replace it. Purple rain is also perennial here and spreads quite quickly, but it's a rosette form with spikes of purple and very attractive. The other red sages I grow (coccinea & splendens) are annuals here and I start them indoors in order to get blooms and seed each year. I don't have any experience growing lavender from seed.

  • ellenrr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    So far I've only got one sprout from Salvia Officianalis, I'll leave the container and see what happens, but my experience from other years of leaving the container til June, is that - what sprouts first is usually it.

    So I wouldn't WS this again, not for one sprout.

    As for the lavender, it is "lavendula angustifolia", I think the same one I WS'd so successfully 2 years ago.
    I'm disapointed in this too, but it has been a cold Spring, so I'll see what happens in the next month.

    I just checked my records for 2009 and see that I sowed Lav. March 28, but I didn't note when it germinated.

    The annual sages, otoh, are wonderfully easy to WS, and soon I'll be sowing my annuals. Yea!

  • weebay
    13 years ago

    Hi ellen,
    I Ws'd both of those as well. I have a ton of Salvia officianalis sprouts, wish I could pass some over to you . . .but my lavendula angustifolia has shown no signs at all, yet.

    I still have high hopes for it and can't wait til we warm up properly!

    cheers, weebay

  • countrycarolyn
    13 years ago

    Elennr, don't be discouraged by your salvia. It likes warmer weather so it may be that we had enough warm weather to get one sprout but I assure you more will come. I just started finding new growth on my salvia just this week, it is a late one to sprout. But once it sprouts it doesn't take long to bloom.

    My lavender is doing pretty good, some of the sprouts I lost during all of the hard rain storms we had for about 2 weeks off an on, though I do still have a few sprouts that survived. They are starting to change colors already and putting out true leafs.

  • ellenrr
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    thanks weebee and carolyn for the encouraging words.

    Did you sow your sage seeds on the surface?
    I covered mine with a very thin layer of soil.

    OK, I am going to keep the faith!
    (for a little while... :)

  • countrycarolyn
    13 years ago

    I surface sow mine, and they reseed very nicely in full sun locations but I have had the hardest time trying to get my salvia to survive a winter in a partial sun area and I have only once had a reseed in my partial sun.

    So another suggestion make sure your container is in full sun. It doesn't mind going with a little water either.

  • countrycarolyn
    13 years ago

    ....without a little water

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