5 salvias with red flowers

Salvia elegans ‘Ananas’: a delightful fruity fragrance

Native to Central America, Salvia elegans ‘Ananas’ is surprising with its leaves and flowers that have the taste and scent of pineapple! Widely used in cooking to flavour desserts, exotic dishes, or in herbal teas, its rough pale green leaves are highly aromatic. Forming a bushy clump of about one metre high and 80 cm wide, it produces semi-woody stems topped with spikes of fragrant bright red flowers. Its flowering period is mainly in autumn, from September to November, but it can bloom again in March in mild climates. Not very hardy, it is essential to plant it in a pot to be brought indoors in winter if you wish to keep it from one year to the next. A mutation of the Pineapple Sage, Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious’ also emits a pineapple scent, with its golden yellow foliage making the difference.

Pineapple Sage thrives in full sun, in fertile, light, and well-drained soil, either in a flowerbed or in a pot on a balcony. It can be accompanied by aromatic plants such as Common Sage, Lemon Verbena, or Lemon Balm, Mint, or even Basil and Helichrysum italicum with its silver foliage.

Salvia elegans ‘Ananas’

Salvia jamensis ‘Reve Rouge’: for vibrant flowering!

The Shrubby Sage Salvia jamensis ‘Reve Rouge’ offers a breathtaking flowering display. From May to October, sometimes November, it produces long clusters of bright, pure red flowers! Its lightly scented flowering is generous. The almost black flower spikes and brown bracts contrast perfectly with the flowers. These small, glossy, dark green dentate leaves exude a fruity and herbaceous fragrance. This French cultivar is a beautiful success! Moderately hardy, the ‘Reve Rouge’ Sage enjoys full sun or partial shade and thrives well in poor, calcareous soil, as long as it is well-drained and cool.

The deep red of Salvia jamensis ‘Reve Rouge’ is highlighted in a perennial bed with warm colours: Avens ‘Fire Storm’, Gaillardes, Daylily ‘Crimson Pirate’, Kniphofias, Bee Balm ‘Gardenview Scarlet’, and Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’. Finally, to contrast, also include perennials with silver foliage like the Sea Dusty Miller.

Salvia jamensis ‘Reve Rouge’

Salvia microphylla ‘Caramba’: a stunning foliage

Here is a cultivar highly valued for its variegated foliage: the Salvia microphylla ‘Caramba’! This semi-evergreen bushy perennial is adorned with small ovate bicoloured medium green and white leaves. From June to October, this bright foliage is topped with a slightly fragrant crimson red flowering. The contrast between the marginate leaves and the flowers is striking! This bushy perennial can quickly reach 1 m in height with a diameter of 80 cm. Hardy down to about -5/-7°C, it enjoys a sunny position in a border, a bed, or a large container in colder regions.

This ‘Caramba’ Sage brightens up gardens alongside Erigeron karvinskianus, Gaura lindheimeri ‘Snowbird’, and at the foot of Lavatera olbia ‘Rosea’.

Salvia microphylla ‘Caramba’

Salvia microphylla ‘Little Kiss’: ideal in pots

Here is the equivalent of the ‘Madeline’ Sage featured in our advice sheet ‘7 Blue Sages’, but in red! The Salvia microphylla ‘Little Kiss’ offers us a beautiful bicolour red and white flowering from June to October. Although these cluster flowers are not fragrant, the small medium green leaves are aromatic: accentuated in hot and dry weather, a scent of mint and lemon is released from the plant. This sage with dense and compact foliage blooms perfectly well in sunny and dry situations. Its soil should preferably be fertile, stony, and calcareous. Moderately hardy, it withstands temperatures down to -10°C. In cold regions with a high risk of frost, place it in a location sheltered from cold winds and mulch its base with a mineral mulch that does not retain too much moisture in winter. Growing in a pot allows the plant to be wintered and ensures its survival.

This robust bush sage is more compact than its cousin Salvia microphylla ‘Hot Lips’ and is ideal for small gardens. In a border, combine its original bicolour flowering with Delphinium ‘Highlander Bolero’, Phlox paniculata ‘Tequila Sunrise’, and the Yarrow ‘Lilac Beauty’, ‘Cerise Queen’, and ‘Schneetaler’.

Salvia microphylla ‘Little Kiss’

Salvia hybrida ‘Ember’s Wish’: a generous and warm flowering!

A perennial with rather unique flowering, Salvia hybrida ‘Ember’s Wish’ is a very recent variety. Just like its cousin Salvia buchananii ‘Love and Wishes’, this sage originated in Australia. The very rare colour of these coral-red flowers makes it an exceptional sage with a long flowering period from May to November. From this bushy mound, 70 cm in all directions, rise dark brown stems bearing spikes of tubular flowers. This deciduous variety thrives in a sheltered spot, in full sun or partial shade, in very well-drained, light, and dry soil. However, it is not very hardy and cannot withstand temperatures below -5°C. It is therefore advisable to plant it in a pot so that it can be wintered indoors.

Create a contrasting pot display on your balcony or terrace by combining Salvia hybrida ‘Ember’s Wish’ with annuals such as Zinnia ‘Profusion Double Fire’, Heliotropium arborescens ‘Pérou Marine’, orange-flowered Cannas, and Verbena rigida and Lavandula stoechas.

Salvia hybrida ‘Ember’s Wish’

To find out more

Everything you need to know about Sages, Salvia: planting, pruning, maintenance

Find the ideal Sage by consulting our sheet Sages: which varieties to choose?

Our inspirations for pairing Sages: 7 ideas for successful companion planting