Salvia Mirage (cherry red) self seeds

allymountain13

Bought this plant from Tesco's in Early July. Just found another one 1m away about 1ft high and covered with flowers. Nice surprise. Is this normal for this lovely plant?

Dovefromabove

I'm pretty certain it's a Salvia gregii type and if so, I find that if they're happy they self seed and also layer themselves all over the place ... love them. 

Fire

Go Greggii self seed? I've never had it? The usual way to propagate is with cuttings.

Dovefromabove

I take lots of cuttings and they do well, but if they're not self-seeding I really don't know how else they've enlarged their 'patch' as much as much as they have this year ... some plants that I thought might have been exceptionally long stems that have 'self-layered' have turned out to have no physical connection to the 'parent plant' when I've moved them  ... perhaps it's just the really hot weather has ripened the seeds and encouraged them to germinate.  

Fire

Good to know.

Lyn

I’ve searched the internet and can’t see any seeds from this plant. 

JennyJ

I once had some seeds of Salvia jamiensis (which I think is a close-ish relation) from the RHS members' seed scheme.  They germinated and grew but weren't anything special flower-wise (kind of dirty red).  I've never had any of my greggii/jamiensis types self-seed (that I've noticed) but with the hot summer we've just had, I think it's possible.

Borderline

This might sound far fetch, but I suspect a branch broke off from the original plant and has managed to root itself into another area. My mum grows a lot of salvias and has no greenhouse, so she often cuts larger sections of her plants with flowers included and simply plonks them in somewhere else, and although many do fail, some do, to my surprise 'take' to their newly planted areas. 

Lyn

If you’ve only just put this plant in the ground in July, it’s had only 2 months in the ground, it’s never self seeded and grown another plant 30cms tall in that short time. Maybe you bought one last year and forgot to label it? 

allymountain13

Thanks for all the comments. Intriguing isn't it? I've lived here 4 yrs but only started planting the garden this year, Lyn. There's a big Malva Alba between the parent and the baby so it would have had to shoot beneath that! I'm a novice with Salvias. Bought Hot Lips at the GW show. But this mirage (cherry red) (yes a gregii Dove) has outperformed it. The 'self-cutting' idea is good as we had high winds for 2 days during the heatwave. I thought I'd read somewhere that this type of salvia was sterile but not sure. what's amazing is that, since the patch was bare in May, I not only have a new plant, but one covered in flowers!
What a strange year it has been for gardening. And what good luck that the best flower in this border has multiplied Winter care tips gratefully received.

Fire

I agree that the second plant might have come from a broken branch that rooted.

For winter, I would take cuttings so that if you lose some, you will have back ups. As I understand it Greggii have a Mexican lineage and not given to snow. Some are hardy down to -8 or so, some are semi-tender. It's worth checking.