Q: I just planted Red Salvia and have been given a couple of different answers as to how to dead head them. I would really appreciate your help in this, as I just planted this morning and want to be on top of it!

A: Red Salvia, an annual can be deadheaded by simply cutting or pinching off the bloom fairly far down on the stem. Generally when the bloom has faded in color and is getting mature and crusty. By deadheading you will vitalize your plant and push it into producing a new flower.

Sometimes when people plant blooming red salvia (not knowing how long it has been blooming in the container before hand) they go ahead and pinch off all the blooms when planting. The advantage of this is to kick the plant into gear to go ahead and produce more blooms again. Other wise the plant is struggling with reestablishing itself and maintaining a bloom. When plants are bought quite young and no blooms then obviously the plant needs to mature a bit before producing its bloom.