I really love this forb that is an annual flower in the northern USA because it dies with the first strong frost in the autumn, though it is a tropical perennial from Brazil. Real annuals are like Corn that dies after bearing seed. Scarlet Sage is a reliable annual that is easy to deadhead for better looks and bloom. What I really like are the older, larger cultivars that are 18 to 36 inches high. Unfortunately, the last several years I have not been able to find these larger plants. Instead, I keep finding very dwarf cultivars that get about 10 to 12 inches high, maybe 14 inches. I want bigger not just because of size preference, but these newer small cultivars don't seen to really attract the hummingbirds. I think they have a slightly different flower structure. The female Ruby-throated Hummingbird who comes by my yard in summer looks at the little red sages, but she just goes to the Black & Blue Anise-flowered Sages instead. Back in the 1970's I was looking at the large 2 to 3 feet high Scarlet Sages at the front of my father's house, and I swatted at some big insect near my head, fortunately missing. It was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and I quickly left and let him feed in peace and happiness.

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"Salvia splendens (scarlet sage, tropical sage) is a tender herbaceous perennial native to Brazil, growing at 6,600 to 9,800 feet elevation where it is warm year-round and with high humidity. The native plant, rarely seen in cultivation, reaches 4.3 feet tall. Smaller selections are very popular as bedding plants, seen in shopping malls and public gardens all over the world.

The native type is rarely used or described, though it grew from 4.9 to 26 feet in height. The most common selections are the dwarf sizes that go by names such as 'Sizzler' and 'Salsa', and planted en masse in gardens and malls. 'Van Houttei' reaches 3.3 to 4.3 feet in height. The various types typically have red flowers.

Named cultivars include S. splendens 'Alba', with white flowers; 'Atropurpurea', with dark violet to purple flowers; 'Atrosanguinea', flowers dark red; 'Bicolor', flowers white and red; 'Bruantii', small, with red flowers; 'Compacta', small, flowers in dense racemes, white or red; 'Grandiflora', large, with large red flowers; 'Issanchon', small, with white flowers striped pink to red; 'Nana', an early-flowering cultivar, with red blossoms; 'Scarlet Pygmy', a very dwarf, early flowering seed race with intense scarlet blossoms; 'Semperflorens', continuous flowering; 'Souchetii', small, with white or red flowers; 'St. John's Fire', dwarf plants with dense, abundant, bright red, early-flowering, long-lasting blossoms; and 'Violacea', flowers dark violet to purple. The cultivars 'Red arrow', 'Vanguard' and 'Van-Houttei' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit."

Taken from wikipedia's page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

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