Salvia chiapensis: A lovely upright, bushy sub tropical shrub to 1m H for a sunny sheltered position with bright cerise flowers all the year.
Salvia chiapensis: although looking very subtropical, it is tough and hardy for any time of the year.
Flowers: are semi tubular, cerise with a furry hood and lobes that are open and inviting for insects and small birds with long beaks to enter the flower. There is a faint paler beeline at the throat to guide the insects.
Flowering all the year, it is a very attractive plant, especially as the buds begin by hanging down and gradually turn upwards. Very attractive to both bees and small Spinebills.
Calyces: are a pale yellow green, often colouring on the exposed side, sparsely ribbed with very pointed long lobes. Flowers are held in pairs along a very long flowering stem, held above or outside the foliage to attract passing insects and allowing accessibility for the Spinebills.
Leaves: are a glossy dark green, obovate/ lanceolate in shape, a shiny surface, duller beneath with crenations along the edges. Very tropical looking with the glossy surface.
Salvia chiapensis: is a gorgeous shrub with the appearance of a bushy shrub, ideal for either a semi shaded position or a sunny protected area. Flowering all year, always a magnet for small birds.
It clips well for a small hedge around a fountain or pathway. It certainly can be grown to brighten up a dark corner under a tree.
Plant with other bright blue, vivid purple and white small shrubs and perennials that grow in similar conditions.
Although frost tender, it is easily grown if given protection, is fairly drought hardy once established, being able to grow in sunny positions, provided it is well mulched to keep the root area cool during the hot, dry summer season .
Pruning: Before the onset of winter, the shrub may be looking straggly, so it is time to neaten, cutting out old flowering stems, any dead or old twiggy stems, cutting back to good green buds, allowing any new shoots or basal growth to reinvigorate the shrub.
Propagated: easily by tip cuttings taken at any time of year.