From £4.98
Salvia greggii Colour: White & wine purple Flowering: Jul-Sep Foliage: Evergreen Height: 5From £14.99
Guardian Range Stout spires of flowers over mounds of mid green foliage. Blooms June & JFrom £14.96
Salvia sylvestris AKA Mainacht Colour: Purple and burgundy Flowering: May-Nov Foliage: Mid toFrom £14.99
From £4.98
From £14.96
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Hot Lips Sage is a bushy, twiggy, lively variety with jolly two tone blooms that are mostly half white, half bright lipstick red, although they can vary between all white and all red. They have a wonderfully lengthy flowering season lasting generally from July through to October, but give them a sheltered and cosy spot, and they will go for longer. To about 60cm tall.
Browse our range of Salvia varieties or all of our perennial plants.
Salvias need close to full sun, and will grow near the coast in exposed locations. They are fully hardy, although their flowering season will be shortened somewhat in cold and windy places. They are happy on chalk, and like a light, well-drained but moist soil enriched with humus that doesn't remain wet in winter, so heavy clay is not good. They are perfect for a Mediterranean or gravel garden, and are great in large containers. Established plants are drought resistant, but still want fairly consistent moisture in dry summer periods to flower really well.
They are perfect for a Mediterranean or gravel garden, and are great in large containers.
Deadhead promptly to get the most from the flowering season, and prune out all the two-year-old growth (over about 1cm wide) in spring, ideally after the last frost, leaving the smaller shoots.
Mulch lightly every year or two, ideally after a heavy spring rain when the soil has warmed up. Salvias don't need much fertility, so a little help goes a long way.
A favourite choice for containers, Hot Lips' distinctive flowers make a startling statement kept on their own. Plant them in a matching red receptacle and they will stand out even more. But you can combine them effectively with other plants. We recommend a white rose such as Little Angel or Rose Desdemona. You can also pair with other salvias like Caradonna.
Listed variously as Salvia × jamensis or Salvia microphylla, the name hot lips was selected by the volunteers at the Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco who helped horticultural manager Don Mahoney propagate it for sales in the United States after he'd received a cutting.
This popular variety is the parent of Amethyst Lips.