Salvia microphylla

Salvia microphylla brings long-lasting colour and movement with its vibrant flowers and aromatic foliage. Flowering from spring through autumn, it draws bees and butterflies while adding brightness and life to the garden.

Salvia microphylla is a Mexican woody salvia perfectly adapted to Mediterranean conditions, producing wave after wave of small tubular flowers from late spring through autumn — typically May to November, with peaks in June and September. The flower colour range is exceptional: pure red ('Cherry Red'), pink ('Pink Blush'), pure white, bi-coloured ('Hot Lips' has red-and-white flowers), purple ('Black Knight'), and many more cultivars. The small bright green leaves smell of blackcurrant when crushed. Hardy to -8°C, drought-tolerant once established, the plant tolerates poor soils, alkaline conditions, salt spray and reflected heat from walls; flowering increases with summer heat.

Baby sage forms a tidy rounded shrub 60–100 cm tall and as wide, ideal for the middle of dry borders, in informal mixed perennial plantings, as a long-flowering replacement for annuals around terraces and seating, and in large terracotta pots. Plant in a sunny exposed position — flowering is best where summer is hottest and brightest. Pair the red forms with the silver of Stachys byzantina, Lavandula and Salvia rosmarinus; the pink forms with the chartreuse of Euphorbia characias and the cool blue of Plumbago; the bi-coloured 'Hot Lips' is striking against white-washed walls and pale stone. Cut back hard in late winter to maintain compact shape; remove spent flower stems regularly to encourage continuous bloom.