Annual / color · North Texas care guide
Salvia splendens
Nursery Pro tip: Bold red spikes for beds and pots. Hummingbirds find it from a block away.
Salvia splendens — the bright scarlet bedding salvia that blooms from planting until frost with almost no attention. 12–18 in, dependable, and about as much saturated red as you can buy for the money. Also sold in white, burgundy and purple.
Full sun to part shade — one of the few annuals that takes both, with a little afternoon shade actually extending its life in our heat. Any bed with compost worked in. Space 10–12 in apart.
Spring after the last freeze (mid-March on) or in early fall for a cool-season show. Loosen the bed, work in compost, plant at the same depth, water in with Root Stimulator, mulch.
Twice a week through summer, more in the worst heat. It wilts visibly and recovers.
Bedding-plant fertilizer at planting, then a light feeding every four to six weeks.
Shear off the spent flower spikes and the whole planting refreshes in about ten days. A midsummer shearing by a third rejuvenates a tired bed.
Slugs on young plants, aphids on new growth. It stalls in the hottest part of August and comes back in September.
Mass plantings, borders and color beds with marigolds, vinca and sweet potato vine. Red salvia with yellow lantana is a hummingbird magnet.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.