Salvia coccinea: Our Number One Florida Nectar Plant

Cloudless sulphur on Salvia coccinea

Any butterfly gardener knows that if you want butterflies, you need plants that provide the nectar they drink. We grow lots of varieties of nectar plants here at BioWorks, but our hands-down favorite is Salvia coccinea, often called Tropical Sage.

Salvia coccinea is native to Florida, and it grows in nearly all conditions across the state. It can handle full sun as well as some shade, and is extremely drought-tolerant. It reseeds readily without becoming a pest plant, because it’s easy to pull out if you need to. But why would you want to? The tall red flower spikes are plentiful year-round, and a huge draw for butterflies and other pollinators.

In recent years, other cultivars of this species have been made available, providing us with a couple of additional color options. ‘Snow Nymph’ is a pure white variety, while ‘Coral Nymph’ boasts a pink and white bloom. S. coccinea grows readily from seed – sow it directly in your butterfly garden and watch for the fuzzy stems and leaves to appear within a couple of weeks or so.

Care couldn’t be easier – when a stalk is done flowering, break it off to encourage new growth (no pruners needed!). We like to toss the stalks with their seeds right down beside the existing plants to encourage them to spread and colonize, because we really can’t get enough of this plant!

Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph'

Find S. coccinea in red and pink in the Salvia bed behind the BioWorks flight enclosure and in the nearby citrus bed. In the tree grove, large patches grow by the Juliet Gordon Low magnolia. You’ll also find it scattered throughout the garden in random places where it has re-seeded itself, and you’ll usually find a butterfly or two hovering around each plant.

For such an easy-to-grow and valuable plant, it can be surprisingly difficult to find outside of native plant nurseries. Many “big-box” stores focus on selling Salvia splendens, which comes in a variety of colors but has been so extensively hybridized that it tends to provide very little nectar – butterflies generally ignore it. Make the effort to find a Salvia coccinea or two – your butterfly garden and visiting butterflies will thank you for it!