SALVIA micro. Hot Lips

Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ is a bushy, often semi-evergreen subshrub with aromatic green foliage and distinctive bicolour flowers that open vibrant red and white, sometimes shifting to all red or all white as temperatures change. Long-flowering from early summer into autumn, it forms a rounded mound to about 1m high and wide. Grow in full sun in a well-drained, moderately fertile soil; deadhead and lightly trim to keep it neat, and cut back winter damage in spring. Well suited to sunny borders and gravel plantings, it is attractive to pollinators and holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit; in colder or very wet winters it may need some protection.

To help give a clear sense of scale, the stone wall shown in our photos measures approximately 265cm in height. We also use familiar garden tools as visual references: a digging fork (110cm tall) and a hand fork (30cm tall). These are included purely as size guides to help you better judge proportions when viewing the images.

Position: Full sun

Rate of Growth: Moderate

Soil: Moderately fertile, well-drained soil

Hardiness: Hardy in mild areas; protect from severe cold and winter wet

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Plant at a Glance