Looks like they may be down for good. Not sure.......but your right, support is needed. I don’t know if you have any twine and could run it under them them and tie them up to something for this year. In the future you should have some perennial supports where the plants can grow through a grid like structure So it supports them. You take the time to kind of encourage through the spaces. Good Luck!

debra

My perennial salvias are once bloomers. Maybe there's a little sporadic rebloom if the stars are aligned and the Deity smiles upon me but not much. I'd trim and move those. Then I would use that narrow space for French marigolds or some such short annual that will bloom like nuts all summer.

cecily 7A, That sounds like the right idea to me. Do you know if now is a good time to do that, or should I wait to move them and plant the marigolds?

The longer the salvias lie there, the more they're gonna bug you. Do it this weekend;)

lol, on it!

Personally, I'd ditch them and replace with something that will stay neat and tidy all season. If you want summer-long color, annuals are the way to go -- zinnias, marigolds, geraniums, annual salvia, just depends on the look you want. (annual salvia don't flop like that BTW) Although, these are all full sun annuals -- is that indeed a full sun exposure, or part-sun? Maybe what you have now is flopping so badly because there's not enough sun -- they're reaching for it.

Maybe what you have now is flopping so badly because there's not enough sun -- they're reaching for it.

I was wondering whether there was a nutrient imbalance, because most salvias of that type don't grow as tall as these, but insufficient sun would certainly explain it.

Another possibility is too rich soil or over fertilizing

DONT perennial salvias like leaner soil?

good to consider cultural conditions we Create so the problem isn’t perpetuated

They definitely flopped because of a heavy rain. They were doing beautifully until then & we basically watched them get crushed. But I still didn't really like them - they're just too tall for the space. Looking around our yard, I don't really have a place for them, so will probably have to just ditch them as mxk suggested.

I never knew a nutrient imbalance could make plants too big, Paul - that seems counterintuitive, so interesting. I didn't do anything to the soil there, so we have whatever the prior owner left us with.

Thanks all - your advice is very helpful!