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Salvia 'Hot Lips'

sage 'Hot Lips'

AGM plants

AGM plants have been through a rigorous trial and assessment programme. They are:

  • Excellent for ordinary use in appropriate conditions
  • Available to buy
  • Of good constitution
  • Essentially stable in form & colour
  • Reasonably resistant to pests & diseases
© RHS
Sold by 85 nurseries

  • Other common names sage 'Hot Lips'

  • Synonyms Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'
    Salvia × jamensis 'Hot Lips'

  • Family Lamiaceae

  • Genus Salvia can be annuals, biennials, herbaceous or evergreen perennials, or shrubs. They have paired, simple or pinnately lobed, often aromatic leaves and 2-lipped flowers in whorls, forming simple or branched spikes or racemes

  • Details 'Hot Lips' is a bushy plant, about 100 x 100cm, evergreen if not cut back by frost, with small, ovate, aromatic green leaves. Flowers are borne in loose terminal racemes, red in midsummer, bicolored red and white in July and August, sometimes completely white when the days shorten. Very floriferous in all its colour stages, continuing to the first frost

Characteristics

  • Foliage Evergreen

  • Habit Bushy

  • Fragrance Leaf

  • Hardiness

    Hardiness ratings

    All ratings refer to the UK growing conditions unless otherwise stated. Minimum temperature ranges (in degrees C) are shown in brackets

    • H1a - Under glass all year (>15C)
    • H1b - Can be grown outside in the summer (10 - 15)
    • H1c - Can be grown outside in the summer (5 - 10)
    • H2 - Tolerant of low temperatures, but not surviving being frozen (1 to 5)
    • H3 - Hardy in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK (-5 to 1)
    • H4 - Hardy through most of the UK (-10 to -5)
    • H5 - Hardy in most places throughout the UK even in severe winters (-15 to -10)
    • H6 - Hardy in all of UK and northern Europe (-20 to -15)
    • H7 - Hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20)

    H5

Colour

Sunlight

  • Full Sun

  • Aspect South-facing or West-facing

  • Exposure Sheltered

Soil

  • Sand

    Sand

  • Loam

    Loam

  • Chalk

    Chalk

  • MoistureMoist but well-drained, Well-drained

  • SoilSand, Loam, Chalk

  • pHAcid, Alkaline, Neutral

Size

  • Ultimate height 0.5-1 metres

  • Ultimate spread 0.5-1 metres

  • Time to ultimate height 2-5 years

How to grow

Cultivation Grow in light, moderately fertile, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil or well-drained soil. Best in full sun but can tolerate light partial shade

Propagation Propagate by basal cuttings or softwood cuttings in spring or early summer or semi-hardwood cuttings in late summer or autumn with bottom heat

Suggested planting locations and garden types Flower borders and beds Wall-side Borders Drought Resistant Mediterranean Climate Plants Coastal City & Courtyard Gardens Cottage & Informal Garden Gravel Garden Patio & Container Plants

How to care

Pruning Pruning group 9 in spring, deadhead to prolong flowering

Pests May be prone to attack by slugs, snails, rosemary beetle and leafhoppers

Diseases Generally disease free

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