Salvia Microphylla Hot Lips

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X_Butterflies_X Devon, United Kingdom Jun 21, 2009

Ive got a HUGE hot lips in my garden and was wondering if i could possibly take a cutting of it and keep it indoors, is it an indoors plant as well as an outdoors plant? If i can have hot lips as a houseplants then how do i take a cutting of it? And one more thing whilst im here, Is it ok to prune a hot lips bush, mine has got a little out of control but i dont want to mess with it too much in case i kill it. Any other info on this plant would be great! Thanks :)

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jun 21, 2009

Since it sounds like you'll have plenty of cuttings there's no harm in trying it as a houseplant and see how it does, but I think it'll be happier outside. Salvias need a lot of sun and the light indoors won't be as intense so it most likely won't bloom as well as it did outdoors. But give it a try, as long as you water it properly it won't die from being indoors and if you find it's not blooming as well as you'd like then you can always move it back outdoors. It is definitely OK to prune it--I recommend pruning them every year because otherwise the bottoms tend to get overgrown and woody. I usually wait until the first flush of blooms for the season is fading, then cut it back but you could also do it first thing in the spring. I like to wait because in my zone, my S. greggii and S. microphylla cultivars are among the earlier things to start blooming in the spring so I like to have that first flush of flowers as early as possible, then by the time those blooms die down a bit there's plenty of other stuff blooming so I don't mind cutting them back and missing their blooms for a little while.

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X_Butterflies_X Devon, United Kingdom Jun 21, 2009

How do i get a cutting? Ive only ever taken cuttings from houseplants and i have used their leaves to get the cuttings. Ive never taken a cutting from a bush/woody plant so how would go about it? Thanks ecrane3 :)

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Skyla_Smith Exeter, United Kingdom Jun 21, 2009

Im not sure how you take a cutting but definately try growing it indoors, Ive always loved these plants but dont have a garden so if yours did grow indoors i would be very tempted to buy one for myself. So please keep us updated :)

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X_Butterflies_X Devon, United Kingdom Jun 23, 2009

I took the cutting yesterday and planted it in a little pot and put it in my bedroom which has a west facing window. I never realised the gorgeous smell these plants have, its amazing! And another thing i noticed when taking the cutting was there were several big cocoons hanging from the branches of my hot lips! I was soooo amazed! I LOVE THIS PLANT!!! :) :) :)

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