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Shrubs & fertilizing


Question
Thanks for taking my question.  I live in southern part of Texs.  Love Texas Sage.  It is on our highways blooming and beautiful, but I cant get mine to budge.  What kind of fertilizer or treatment does this shurb need.  Should I get a broom and beat it?

Answer
The broom idea is not all that bad. You are probably treating it too well.

When you say Texas Sage Shrub I trust you mean leucophyllum (frutescens ?).

If you have pruned late, it may explain the lack of flower.
A general rule for pruning flowering shrubs is to wait until after they have bloomed. For the leucophyllums (Texas sage) blooming is throughout the warm months and the recommended time to prune is in February or March. You can remove as much as one-third of the foliage at this time without causing too much stress. If you have recently pruned the shurb you may have removed most of the flower buds.

It's nick name is the barometer bush and folklore had it that when it bloomed it was a sign of an impending storm and you should seek cover. While this is probably an overstatement, the shrub is known to bloom right after being watered or when it has just rained. Therefore you can give it a deep long soaking and combined with high humidity, flowering is triggered.

Water deeply once or twice per month. Otherwise, just leave it alone. It is tolorant of poor soil and can withstand quite a bit of draught. if you neglect it a bit and then water it deeply on occation, it will flower.  
It seldom flowers continously through summer, but will flower on/off depending on the moisture availability.

Drainage must be good and the shrub prefers alkaline soils. If planted in acidic soils, dolomitic lime must be added. Make sure it is planted in a place where water does not collect, that it gets full sun or at least partial sun.

Overwatering or poor drainage will quickly kill it, and shade will promote leggy growth and less flowering. In areas of high rainfall or poorly drained soil, it should be planted in raised bed.

Finally, be patient. The best flowering is found during hot summer months.

Note, since you said shrub I am assuming it is leucophyllum and not Salvia coccinea (aka scarlet sage, but also sometimes preferred to as texas sage). This is a perennial with, typically red, flower spikes. The shrub, however, is leucophyllum, not salvia coccinea (those darn latin names, right ?)

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