Red salvia, also known as Scarlet Sage, is a heat-tolerant and vigorous plant that can add vibrant color to your garden without requiring much care. It grows best in full sun, free-draining soil, with a plug crop time of 4 to 5 weeks and a transplant to finish of 4 to 5 weeks. The plant is well-matched in heat tolerance, habit, and earliness.
Salvia splendens Vista™ Salmon is another popular plant for its vibrant color and ability to survive hot, dry summer days. It grows best in full sun, with a hardiness degree of 40°F (4.4°C). Deadheading is recommended to prolong flowering, but it may be lost over winter if the soil is very cold and wet. Most salvia species are quite drought-tolerant and require little care, but excessive water and fertilizer can increase fungal disease problems. Most salvias prefer slightly acidic soils.
In cooler areas, grow as a warm weather annual in average, evenly moist, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Salvia Vista Mix has masses of beautiful flowers. To plant red salvia, plant it in a location with full sun, at least six to eight hours daily, and amend the soil with organic matter before planting. Seed supplied as raw, the plant requires full sun, minimum cold hardiness in Zone 10a (-30°C) to +1.7°C (35°F), and maximum recommended zone in Zone 11.
The best time to plant salvias is in spring after the danger of frost has passed. For best results, plant red salvia in full sun or light shade, with dark green foliage and dense flower spikes in late spring, summer, and late summer. Salvia splendens grows well in full sun or light shade and needs ample water.
📹 All About Salvias
Plant you guys are all caught all familiar with you see it all over the southeast in this type of type of salvia and the splendens …
Can scarlet sage survive winter?
The scarlet sage is renowned for its exceptional temperature tolerance, with the capacity to withstand temperatures as low as 0°C (32°F) and as high as 41°C (106°F). This adaptability to diverse climatic conditions is a noteworthy attribute.
Do Salvias like coffee grounds?
Coffee grounds are acid-leaning, so they should not be used on plants that prefer alkaline soil, such as asparagus, campanula, salvia, achillea, and Mediterranean herbs like lavender, thyme, and rosemary. Before using coffee grounds in your garden, ensure they are used in small amounts to avoid disrupting compost pH or breakdown processes. In summary, coffee grounds are not suitable for all plants.
Do you deadhead scarlet sage?
Deadheading is essential for Scarlet Sage, as it signals the plant to continue producing flowers. Snip off faded flowers just above the first set of healthy leaves to increase blooming. Use sharp, clean shears for precise cuts, disinfect with rubbing alcohol before and after use. Tackling overgrown plants can rejuvenate them by cutting back stems to a healthy node. Pruning stimulates new branches and flowers, but never remove more than one-third of the plant at a time to avoid stress.
Why are my red salvias dying?
Over-watering can cause yellowing leaves and root rot in Salvia plants, leading to soggy soil and decay. To save the plant, stop watering immediately, check roots for rot, remove damaged parts, and repot in fresh, well-draining soil. Restart watering with moderation and consider setting reminders to prevent overzealous watering in the future. Under-watering can cause drooping leaves and bone-dry soil, leaving the plant as parched as a desert, with roots stretching out in search of moisture.
Do salvias like full sun or shade?
Salvias are drought-tolerant plants that thrive in full sun and well-drained soils, but some can bloom in part shade. They require little care once established and can be easily irrigated with water and fertilizer. They prefer slightly acidic soils and should be planted in spring after frost has passed. To ensure optimal results, amend the soil according to a soil test results. If soil test results are unavailable, apply a slow-release fertilizer formulated for annuals.
Perennial salvias can grow without supplemental fertility if sited in well-prepared soil with compost. They should be divided in early spring when new growth begins, and faded bloom spikes removed during summer to encourage continuous flowering. When perennial salvias go dormant, leave stems intact. To avoid freeze damage, wait for new growth to begin in early spring before pruning. Both annual and perennial salvias can be started indoors from seed, with annual Salvia splendens sowing seeds 6-8 weeks before planting time, and other salvias 12 weeks before. Some perennial salvias can be sown directly in the garden.
Where is the best place to plant salvias?
Salvias are popular, fast-growing plants that thrive in sheltered, sunny positions with well-drained soil. They are suitable for south-facing borders, gravel gardens, raised beds, coastal locations, and exotic and subtropical planting schemes. Some, like Salvia glutinosa, tolerate light shade. These plants bloom for a long period in summer and early autumn, producing tubular, two-lipped flowers in various colors.
They are easy to grow, suitable for beds, borders, and containers. They are drought-tolerant once established, hardy, and attractive to pollinators like bees. They can be propagated easily by seed or softwood cuttings and are generally free from pests and diseases.
Will Scarlet Sage come back every year?
Scarlet sage is a perennial herbaceous perennial in the mint family (Lamiaceae) with bright red flowers, known as coccinea or blood sage. It is native to Mexico and is widespread throughout the Southeastern US, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the only native US sage with red flowers and is hardy in zones 9 and 10. It can reseed readily in zones 6 to 8, but is easily grown as an annual in cooler climates. Scarlet sage is an upright subshrub in its native range but can also be used as a bedding plant in colder areas.
It grows 2-4 feet tall and up to 2 ½ feet wide, branching readily. The medium green, hairy leaves are roughly triangular with scalloped edges, and the opposite leaves vary in size but all have long petioles coming off the square stems. Scarlet sage blooms continuously in warm weather, including indoors in a greenhouse during winter. Flowers are produced in loose whorls in an upright, terminal racemose inflorescence up to 10 inches long.
Do I need to deadhead salvias?
Dead-heading perennial Salvias can result in multiple or even four blooms in a season. The first flush of bloom is the most robust, but proper pruning after the first bloom can linger on the plant all season. Proper dead-heading involves careful attention to the branching architecture and tracing old flower stalks down to where two new leaf sets and buds form on either side of the main stem. The plant is efficiently organized and predictable, making it an easy task to perform. Learning dead-heading Salvia is a rewarding experience, as it almost becomes a form of meditation. Although it may feel slow at first, it is worth the time and effort to master the process.
How to care for salvias in pots?
The cultivation of salvia indoors is an optimal choice for both annual and perennial varieties. To ensure optimal growth, salvia plants require full sun exposure and should be watered at weekly or biweekly intervals. In order to ascertain the requisite watering frequency, it is advisable to observe the foliage and flowers for indications of dehydration and to assess the moisture content of the soil. This will ensure the plant’s survival and growth.
Do Salvias like lots of water?
Salvia plants require regular watering, especially during hot and dry periods, but should not overwater to prevent root rot. They can add vibrant color, attract pollinators, and provide drought-tolerant options for ornamental and culinary use. Salvia is a diverse genus of plants, with over 900 species native to the Americas, making it suitable for almost any garden condition, from full sun to partial shade and from moist to dry soil. Its vibrant color, attractive pollinators, and drought-tolerant properties make it an attractive choice for both ornamental and culinary purposes.
Are Vista Red salvias perennials?
Salvia Vista™ Red is a tender perennial that is capable of surviving the winter in USDA Zones 10-11. It exhibits optimal growth when cultivated in average, evenly moist, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade, producing aesthetically pleasing spikes of red flowers from late spring to early fall.
📹 All About Salvia!
Salvia! My Favorite for August! – In this video I go over my favorite August flower in the garden. It is definitely not the showiest of the …
Rockin’ Deep Purple salvia tags say it’s only hardy in zones 9-10 but I’ve had it reliably return in my zone 7b garden the past 3-5 years. It’s a bit of a bully similar to your larger purple/black but such a pollinator favorite. I also really love my japanese yellow sage (Salvia koyamae) which is more of a shade garden/woodland garden groundcover sage that blooms in the fall.
That rockin playing the blues salvia from proven winners is an absolute rockstar in my zone 5 garden It is the most reliable plant I’ve ever grown I think and it never has issues, just always healthy and thriving and huge ! So impressive ! I hate spending money on annuals but it’s worth it every year without fail !
LOVE seeing all the pollinators! Having a great year myself here in Brunswick Hills, Zone 6a, SW of Cleve., OH. Monarchs, Eastern Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, hummers, toad family, morning dove family… ALL sorts of bees all over my self-seeded-from-last-year verbena bonariensis! THIS is what I live for come spring, summer, and fall. GREAT job, Jim and Stephanie! (and Holly, too!).
We are in zone 5A in Madison, Wisconsin. Our favorite salvia is Salvia Amistad. What a tremendous plant. It easily grows to 5 feet or taller and is covered in flowers that the hummingbirds adore. We have also discovered that the tubers can be dug up and stored in a yard waste bag over the wintertime. Plant the tubers in the spring, and the plants vigorously grow.
I was just walking through my yard yesterday and decided that the salvia, both annual and perennial, is my favorite plant in the garden. They can take the heat and the lack of rain and just keep on blooming. I think my favorites are the Pink, Violet and White Profusion by Proven Winners and the summer jewel series.
Black and Blue guaranitica (and most likely the Rockin deep purple and blue suede shoes) have tubers. I have divided mine just fine in the past. For those in cooler than zone 7/8, you could try trimming the plant back to about 6-8″ and then when you dig it up look for tubers with a stem intact and place them in a pot in a location that stays above 40-50* that is sheltered from wind/rain during winter. When last frost date has passed, plant them in soil or continue growing them in an appropriate sized pot. I’m zone 8b, so I’ve not tried it, but have divided the plant by separating clumps of tubers (don’t cut the tubers themselves).
I’m in Indy (6a),and bought 3 April Night salvias in early spring and put them in a half barrel. I’m just finishing the 3rd round of blooms and will cut them back this weekend. There must be 50 spires that are close to a foot tall. This little trio of 6″ tall baby salvias has gone crazy! The bees go nuts over them, and each new bloom is bigger than the last! All salvias are just the best bang for buck plants I own. Maybe 5.98 each at Lowe’s in the spring and bam!
For our Wisconsin hummingbird garden, Salvia ‘Amistad’ is a true winner and brings in hummingbirds all season long. Tall and long blooming with vibrant purple flowers in dark calyces and no deadheading, it is a true winner in our garden. We dig up the roots in late fall and store them in a black plastic garbage bag in our minimally heated sun room and plant in the spring and they grow 6 feet tall. We would highly recommend this beautiful salvia for anyone and who can resist a plant with the common name of “Friendship Sage”?
I have May Night and East Friesland and a pink one. The Frieslands are 11 years old and one of the May nights is 3 years old. They perform well in the spring but when our (7a) temperatures reach the upper 90’s they turn brown and go dormant until the next spring. I think they may need dappled sun, not the full sun they get now. Plus this year they got pushed out by some very, very thuggish silver carpet lamb’s ear (which is coming out!). I keep thinking the heat zone for these salvias should be 7. I just love the smoother leaf, larger flower salvias like you showed especially that coral one that you need a whole year to get established. Really pretty.
I discovered salvia Victoria white this year with a cell pack, and I was delighted to know that you can save the seed because I germinated a couple already. It is an amazing thriller in my potted plants. I did plant one in the ground and it didn’t seem to thrive as much, but maybe next year I will direct seed it and see if it turns into a stronger plant in the ground as I have clay.
I love mystic blue salvia, as you said, the bees are working on it till late in the evening! I really love that section of your garden with the summer jewels red salvia, the yellow zinnias, the arborvitae in the back then that darker green plants on the other end topped with that hummingbird stake…Stunning!!!
Salvia aren’t terribly showy, but I’ve been falling in love with them, because they are such a work horse for me! Mystic Spires Blue (farinacea) are always covered in bees. I have Black and Blue (guaranitica) and it can definitely become thuggish, but hummingbirds go to that first in my garden. My dad has some in Oklahoma 7a that is planted next to his brick house on the east side and it is doing great, made it through winter ’22.
I love summer jewels red salvia. I only plant the red variety because I want them to reseed themselves as red. They are very aggressive at reseeding themselves which is a big plus for me. I have to thin them down a bit each spring as well as pulling up plants that spread to areas I don’t want, but they are very easy to remove and look fantastic from late spring to late fall here in Dallas. In my beds where the soil is improved they get 3+ feet tall by end of summer.
love salvias they bloom all year here in Central FL, i have two that are 4 x 4 i like to trim them every 2 months just to keep them low and spread a bit more and mix them in with my fire spikes which i also have in containers. if you have a chance to get some red fire spikes but not in full sun filtered preferably so they dont wilt. Jim get one just keep em warm in the winter months. a large or medium planter is fine. hummers love them as well.
Hummingbird forest fire (salvia coccinea)- I love the showy true red flowers contrasting with dark calyxes and its narrow/dense/upright habit. An easy pop of color in a small space. Another favorite is salvia greggii var. diane, white (not certain on cultivar), and mirage hot pink. Greggii were in full bloom here when the Dec freeze hit and stayed evergreen.
I loved growing salvias when I was a grower at the garden center. My first favorite was Black and Blue, a h-bird magnet. Mine have come back every year in NW Ohio (6A) for years. Roman Red is an awesome true red. Mystic Spires is a blooming fool. There is a lighter blue variety this year but I can’t remember the name. Pineapple Sage smells SO GOOD and the flowers are just a great extra. Great, great plants.
I put Mystic Spires Blue in my California zone 8b garden in June and I am in love with it. It’s doubled in size and is always loaded with the most beautiful fuzzy looking bloom spikes. It’s covered in pollinators from dawn till dusk and is visited frequently by our hummingbirds. Definitely will be planting more of them.
Very interesting . I had mixed results with salvia this year. I am in 6b and Black and Blue unexpectedly came back for me (and also reseeded) although it is a 7-10 plant– I am going to be interested in perusal what happens to this little patch over this next winter. I have been buying Amistad and Brazilian Blue plants (also 7-10 guaraniticas I believe, but anyway not 6b) mail order and they have always grown and bloomed like crazy but not this year — I still don’t have a single flower and the plants are not very vigorous. Not dying, just sitting there. I am mystified as they are in the same spots they liked in previous years — maybe our dry spring followed by very rainy July??? Bad seedlings??? I also grow lots of the hardier types — such great plants! I hope to try more of the annual types from seed next year — salvia farinacea just keeps blooming so is very nice to provide color during periods when the perennials are in transition.
I have grown (annual here) Bee Haven (mix of colors) and Coral Nymph for the last two years. I have started them from seed both years, and plant them along a 120 ft section of fence in the front yard. Pollinators love them, but my Anise Hyssop (agastache) has them beat for being a pollinator magnet. I also have many other salvias in the yard, including a 25 ft section of May Knight, Black & Blue (hummingbird favorite), some Hot Lips and a few other perennial varieties that I have forgotten then name of at the moment. I try to have salvias that bloom at different times of the year.
What a great article! In the future, can you share articles on how and when you trim the salvia? I love them, honestly the best plant for us here in zone 9. But I’m always so scared of pruning then and don’t know how to do it or when to do it. I’d really like to see how to prune them. It would be greatly appreciated!
I agree, salvia is awesome! Thanks for the beautiful article. One question, I recently rewatched your 3 year old visit to NCSU’s rain garden and you mentioned you would be installing one soon. Did I miss that installation or did you change your mind? Thanks and I can’t wait to see all the updates on your house and property.
I have/had a fairly big and rare collection here in Sarasota 9b. I took a week vacation and had a mealy bug infestation that just took salvias. Heartbreaking. Weird because it was both in the front and back gardens. I’m hoping root stock is there and they’ll come back with a little temp drop. By far my favorite species in my garden.
I suggest you try growing Salvia BODACIOUS Hummingbird Falls. Great container salvia, ground cover or even for hanging baskets because of its growth pattern. It is a Salvia x guaranitica variety with large saturated dark cobalt blue blooms with striking black calyxes similar to Black and Blue salvia. It only grows around 12 to 24 inches high and can spread from 18 to 36 inches and produces many flowers. A true hummingbird magnet.
Love all salvias, but I guess my #1 is the Black & Blue salvia. It grows 3-4 ft tall and never stops blooming in my garden, zone 8b San Antonio area. #2 on my list is the Mystic Spires which is covered with bumble and honey bees all day long. We have a lot of deer pressure in our neighborhood and I know the deer will walk right past it. Win win!
I am absolutely obsessed with salvias, although the perennial kind that I buy in pots that typically have purple flower stalks that you’re supposed to mow down to have it re-bloom again, I don’t find that I really like the smell of it. I did buy a couple varieties, and I want to see if I can save seed from them, as I believe one that surprised me was from seed that I never planted. I have been able to find a few seeds in some of the varieties and surprisingly the proven winners fuchsia one, I am trying to germinate them and see what they turn into but honestly, even if it doesn’t come up same as the parent plant I love salvias so it’s better than keeping them as cuttings over the winter.
I love salvias and added several new varieties this year. They aren’t hardy in 6b but I’m going to try to pot and over winter them. Black and Blue is my all time favorite. I always grow it in a pot. Coral Nymph is a reliable self seeder for me. I’ve had it for years and will not do without it. The seedlings are easy to transplant if necessary.
I have several different varieties of salvia but Greggii is my favorite. After I prune them in the spring, I don’t have to do anything else to ithem and they bloom like crazy. I’m trying black and blue and both of those skyscrappers this year. The tags said they were annuals so I’m excited to learn that they could come back like yours. I have them in pots so should I put them in the ground this fall?
Black and Blue! Absolutely no. One salvia. 4.5 ft tall up til November! I love it so much I bought 20 or 30 more this summer. The 4 i had all coming back but 4/29/24 they are just little green leaves poking up in 8b pnw….they overwinter in ground but just in case they didn’t I got tons more, and trying other tall ones too! Can’t wait to see how they all do. My new salvia i got from a nursery the leaves keep getting black spots on them and some branches falling off! Otherwise they look good. Do u know what would cause that. ? Im thinking its my very dense compost soil stays too wet but not sure…
For Jim or anyone else reading the comments to this article, what kind of spacing do you recommend for the Mystic Spires Blue Salvia? I’ve seen recommendations for 12-18″ apart as a bedding plant, and I’ve also seen recommendations for 2-3′ apart (making sure they weren’t talking about the older, pre-2018 version). Such a wide range of suggestion.
I had a group of 3 called “black and blue” which is probably the same that you featured. I hoped to get a big clump with the 3 plants to fill a big space but 2 of the 3 didn’t make it thru winter. Do you recon the 2 were different or perhaps they just hadn’t had the time to get established enough to come back??? I took the one that came back well, and bent down 4 stalks and tried air layering off that one plant. It doesn’t look great for now but maybe next year I will get a big patch of the “more hardy” plant,,,,,”black & blue”. Maybe???
Jim, The local nursery’s have a very few shrubs & trees I want but it’s too early to plant here in zone 6B. Since the nursery’s successfully keep these plants healthy during august and into the fall…can I go ahead & buy them now & keep them well watered, & out of direct sun, staying healthy until I’m ready to plant in fall? Is the heat around the outside of the containers damaging?