> I have salvia Patens up from seed, but now I don't know that I want it in my garden since it spreads from tuberous. How evasive is it? It isn't invasive! If it was invasive, that would not be a problem to me...LOL I have some plants in my garden that are over five years old. These have not spread from where they are planted...OH DARN! Newly planted S. patens looks best with several plants planted in a group say 3-5 plants. As young plants do not produce many flower stems. Also S. patens does not have many blooms open at one time. By planting several plants the flower display is better. As the plants get older and form larger tubers there will be more flowers open per plant. SG

Please do not divide the roots. It has not been determined if there are active nodes on the stem above the tubers, but it is very unlikely the tuber and the root below have any nodes which will sprout stems. You can root cuttings from rapidly growing top growth, but you will have to wait. Good luck harvesting seeds. You would stand a better chance to get seeds if you were in California or another Mediterranean climate.

This looks like the giant form of Salvia patens, which does grow to 4-5 ft. A very similar form is Salvia patens 'Guanajuato', but this is not quite as floriferous, and usually has dark blotches on the foliage.

Thanks Rich - thats very helpful. My instinct told me that they were asking for light, so I shall give it to them. I think you have answered another query I had as well. When I dug them up they had a huge amount of fine roots, so much so that I couldn't see the tubers. Whilst I left a large amount on, I did remove a quantity - and I was concerned whether that was right. I probably lifted them too early as well. Whilst temperatures have been down to freezing at night, some day temperatures have been quite a bit above. They always say with dahlias to let the frost kill off the top growth and then lift them. Presumably that goes for these as well. I assume it informs the tuber that winter has arrived. By lifting too early the tubers haven't got the message yet.