I have planted S. microphylla 'Hot Lips' several times and in my last garden, pruned it hard every spring. By that I mean I cut it back a good 12 inches or so. It still grew back as large and as full every season.....about 4' tall and 5-6' wide. Had that plant in that location for at least 5 years and assume it is still there :-) My current plant is in a container and not as large but I still trim it back pretty well each spring.

I too wait until Spring. I watch for when they start getting their new leaves, then cut just above the second or third from the bottom set of new leaves.

So unlike the native salvias that are best pruned in late fall?

I have never read anything that said shrubby (woody based) salvias are 'best' pruned in fall. A couple of CA sites said spring or fall. And fall is generally not an advised time of year to prune anything other than fully herbaceous material.

Gardengal, I am quoting Care & Maintenance of Southern California Native Plant Gardens by Bart O'Brien, Betsey Landis, and Ellen Mackey. They recommend pruning native salvias in late fall or early winter, and taking them back by 1/3 to 1/2.

I checked Betsey Clebsch's book as well. She said that the main pruning for S. greggii should be done before new growth starts, which in my garden would be late winter. She seemed to think that light pruning should be done on a periodic basis all year round. I am not sure if this holds true for a gregii x mycrophylla cross.

I'm tempted to do a light cleanup now and then take the plants back by 1/3 at the end of February. I was just wondering if anyone else had grown salvias of this particular cross, and if so what their experience had been.

It took me a couple of years to figure out they are called "autumn sage" because their major bloom is in autumn LOL.
Yes, prune them in spring.

Carla in Sac

Carla, it only occurs to me now as you mention it!

I live in the Central Valley of CA. At the old house I had 43 different kinds of Salvia. The only ones I pruned in very early Spring (February) were the ones that produced new growth directly from the ground from rhizomes... like S. leucantha; this was so I didn't break off the new growth while pruning the old. By pruning as I said in the earlier post I always had full blooming Salvias with good form.

So many different points of view! It sounds as though experienced gardeners have success with varying approaches to salvias. A clear answer would have been comforting, but I am encouraged by the diverse opinions as well. Makes me think that what ever I do, it has a decent chance of coming out all right in the end.

Continuing my research I found this in a newspaper article:

Salvias (sages): Prune in late fall or early winter, before or as new growth begins. If you prune later, you may remove developing flowers. Pinch young plants to get denser, fuller habit. Purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) and Cleveland and its hybrids such as Allen Chickering, Pozo Blue and Aromas can be cut back one-quarter to one-third. Cleveland sage can be cut back to one-half. One exception is white sage.

Apparently we leave white sage alone. Well, I don't grow it so I'm fine. I have trouble leaving well enough alone.

In a conversation last week with botanist Glenn Keator, he told me to prune my native salvias now (implying now is almost too late) because you want them to be done well before the rains come. I'm rarely happy when the rains are late, but for this purpose I suppose it is a good thing. He also said to hard prune them every third year, and mostly just remove dead material the other two years. In his experience they live longer that way.

Anyway, I spent most of yesterday afternoon out on the hill hard-pruning my 5 'Pozo Blue' salvias. What a job! I was so stuffed up at the end that I could hardly breathe. (Pruning lavender or rosemary does that do that to me, too.) I took them back a good 50% because by golly they really needed it. If they come back I'm happy; if not I can replace them. There's also a self-seeded and never-watered hummingbird sage that is still in bloom. I think I'll prune it in the spring. And there are various Cleveland cultivars or hybrids that I will get to if I can before rain, maybe next week. I've got a couple Salvia brandegeiis that don't seem to be building up too much dead material, so I think I'll just take off a bit here and there. They are nicely shaped, too.

Anyway my thanks to everyone for contributing to my salvia knowledge (especially the Autumn Sage illumination).