Salvia

Tropical Sage (Salvia coccinea) is a beautiful flowering annual. Cultivated as an ornamental, salvia is actually a Florida native. Drought tolerant salvias wilt a bit in the hottest and driest part of the year but just one good rain and the start blooming like crazy.

Event a small stand of salvia will seem to buzz with insects. The blooms in reds, whites and pinks seem to be irresistible for butterflies so plant just a few of these and pull up a chair and a camera to catch the show! The tubular flowers are also attractive to hummingbirds, especially when this plant is paired with Firebush and Coral Honeysuckle.

Although these flowers won't make it through a frost they do reseed readily and in the Spring will come back not only from root but also from scattered seeds. Salvias will start blooming early in the season and will keep blooming until a frost kills them to the ground. During the driest parts of the year when the leaves are wilting, a little water from your rain barrel will perk these plants up in a day or two.

Older plants can start to get leggy, so give the old flower tops a trim once they have bloomed to help control height and also to keep the plants dense with flowers. Here in the MOSI gardens I usually just let deadheaded flower spikes fall to the ground to encourage new plants to grow from seed rather than composting the cuttings.

Salvias provide a great burst of color in the middle of any flower bed!