Salvia Species, Scarlet Sage, Scarlet Salvia, Red Sage, Red Salvia

I had two varieties of Red Salvia, but found the hummingbirds to be wildly in love with "Firecracker". My original Firecracker Salvia ha...Read Mores been blooming for 4 years. In terms of visual qualities, I am actually so-so about the plant itself. But seeing varieties of hummingbirds actually queued in an overhead flight pattern, waiting their pecking-order turn, is why this plant delights me. It seeds itself quite freely, so I am establishing a few more large plants. I deadhead the old blooms - and don't need to be to fussy about how I go about this, as the plants quite promptly and happily replenish themselves. I water almost daily during our long, dry, sunny summers. When the plants have mostly stopped flowering, usually November or so, I cut them back quite a bit; then they regrow to about 2' tall each summer. I feed them a few times a year. My Firecrackers are container grown (as are all my flowers - my patio is concrete) and do best in full sun, though those in semi-shade also do fine.

This will be my 3rd winter with this Salvia. I've always taken cuttings during the fall and last year I saved a few seeds to make sure I'...Read Mored have it again in spring just in case we got those rare Florida freezes, as I had not seen it before nor since. It was given to me by a friend who didn't even recall where she got it. I love this Salvia. It's gorgeous, brilliant red flowers that you can see all the way from the other side of the garden. The red continues down the stem. It's done great in a bright morning location with dappled/full sun to high shade during the rest of the day. It might be able to handle more sun, but our hot Florida summers would be tough on it. It's happy with a good drink once a week or so except in the hottest of weather, but for us we are usually getting alot of rain at the same time of year so I rarely have to water it over the summer.
Cuttings are easy to get to root. And the couple of seeds that I have sown have looked just like the original plant.

This salvia is a favorite.It is a great plant to put under live oak trees.Always comes back from first frost but not the second, but is p...Read Moreerennial for my mom 5 miles south. Mix 11/2 pearlite, 1/2 vermiculite. Put in washed old six packs or other small pots about six inches deep, fill pots with mix, make a hole about the diameter of the cuttings to the bottom of pots. Take cuttings from firm stems.Cut in pieces just under a leaf node so you can have at least two nodes covered by mix, cut the top just above a leaf node.Wet bottom of cuttings and dip in the rooting hormone of your choice, put in pots.Water in ,put pots a few inches off the ground in shade and keep moist. I sit mine on an old flat turned upside down. In about 3 weeks look for top growth and roots.When rooted pot up.Keep new babies in the shade for 2 weeks, then treat as mature plants. When planted good drainage is a must. Good luck.

This has been a tricky saliva for me. The listening here says full sun. I would disagree in zone 9 - it does not like Houston's full sun....Read More At the same time, it can get leggy without enough sun. And it is thirsty until established. The wine colored blooms are beautiful and unique. I would consider it more of a "woodland" salvia.

I cut mine back late fall after the ruby throated hummingbird have come through and let it fill back out in spring. It looks pretty sad all winter otherwise. Root hardy in zone 9 so far.

Salvia splendens grows as a self-seeding annual in my Zone 8b/9a garden. It returns from year to year. I've tried it in several spots i...Read Moren my yard, but the one it favors best is shaded most of the day with about 2 hours of fairly direct afternoon sun. It grows amongst my elephant ears collection. Though I wish it had selected some other spot, I am leaving it where it decided it wants to grow.

Jeremy

Love growing these 'shorter' Salvias, along with the 'Lady in Red' Salvia to attract the Hummers that visit.

An annual in zone 6.

I have the "fire-cracker" variety, and man am I pleased with it. I planted it into my butterfly garden and it attracted more humming bir...Read Moreds than butterflies (although the butterflys liked it also). I am fully aware that North Florida doesn't have much cold weather, but my two red salvias are still blooming from last march, they made it fine through the winter. If you want to have winged friends in your yard, I recomend this plant!

My husband had grown red salvia for years to add color around his house. When I married him last year, I found a flat of "tall" red salvi...Read Morea and planted it behind the small plants. It grew tremendously, especially when I deadheaded the mature blooms and the side shoots came out. It gave a good show from the street because it was tall and brilliant red. I did not have good luck with white salvia. It did not grow well and dried up in the hot weather.

I have grown Bonfire here in western NY and it has been a prolific bloomer all summer even this year which has been very cloudy and rainy...Read More all summer and it really adds a bright burst of color to the garden. Usually my hummers ignore the annual salvias but they have made frequent visits to these plants this year. It is an annual here but seeds are very easy to collect for subsequent sowing.

Tip:
Cut off faded flower spikes to encourage more bloom

I have been growing the 'Red Hot Sally' variety for approximately 10 years now and saving seed from them for the next year. I recently c...Read Moreame across 2 more varieties of Salvia splendens called 'Scarlet Bicolour' and 'Hotline Red'. The hummingbirds just love these plants so I make sure to start them on a staggered seeding schedule so that I have some blooming at all times until finaly a hard frost finishes them off.

A beautiful plant. It seems every yard in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, has this plant, and I'm glad to find that it will grow further Sout...Read Moreh in zone 8b, Northcentral Florida, as we are usually wetter than Atlanta. But my son, who lives in an Atlanta suburb, tells me they have had 70 inches of rain by August this year--the usual is about 55 for the whole year--so slugs and snails are definately a problem. I've found a good remedy for them is to save and crush up egg shells and sprinkle the shells around plants these annoying pests love, as they don't like to travel over the shells, as the shells cut up their underbellies.

I'm growing the 'Firecracker' red variety in Northern California (U.S.) Although drought-resistant, they do not flower well without regu...Read Morelar water. Mulching helps as well. I have not had trouble with slugs or snails, nor with aphids.

There are at least 10 varieties of this sage. The height range also varies from 8 inches to 3 ft tall. It needs good, well-drained soil.