Tropical Sage
Salvia coccineaTropical Sage is a perennial native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 2–3 ft tall and 1–1.5 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low to medium water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms white, red and pink in Feb–Oct. Good for butterflies and hummingbirds.
Will it grow in your yard?
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From our guide
Village of the HillsUpright annual or short-lived perennial with scarlet flower spikes from spring through frost.
Why it works here
Blooms nonstop in part shade where most red flowers will not, and reseeds reliably so it returns.
Watch out
Short-lived. Let it set seed or you will lose it.
The facts
6 sources- Type
- Perennial
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
- Water
- Low to medium
- Height
- 2–3 ft
- Spread
- 1–1.5 ft
- Bloom
- Feb–Oct · white, red, pink
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Soil
- Takes caliche and clay · recorded on caliche, clay, dry, loam, moist, rocky, sand
- Deer
- Moderate — deer may browse it, especially new growth. Aromatic but sometimes sampled
- Wildlife
- Supports butterflies and hummingbirds
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
1,895 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
In the Village of the Hills guide, but not on the grower stock lists we read yet. Ask a native-plant nursery.
also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.