Hotline Red Salvia Seeds

With its early, profuse, and brilliant blooms on compact plants, Hotline Red has been the salvia of choice for many gardeners since its introduction. These dense, very bright blooms seem to float atop stocky, heavy 5- to 6-inch flower spikes. The flowers begin when the plant is just 6 inches tall--less than 2 months from sowing—and keep coming over an exceptionally long season.

Hotline Red reaches just 10 to 12 inches tall and wide, with large, lush forest-green foliage fanning out below the bloomstalk like a carpet. It's a superior garden performer, and looks great in containers, too. This is one Salvia that really takes off.

Hummingbirds love these ground-hugging plants, which bear fresh blooms and foliage all the way till frost. They are unrivalled for mass display in the border or bed, and combine nicely with other annuals.

Its compact size and neat habit make Hotline a good neighbor both to large-bloomed and taller, more vertical sources of color. And extreme tolerance of heat and drought means that you can neglect this salvia a bit without losing a bloom.

Salvia Hotline Red is a snap to grow - just sow indoors 6 to 8 weeks before last frost in the spring. Not fussy about soil, it flourishes in blazing sun to dappled shade, tolerating heat, drought, and other vagaries of the weather. In the Coastal West and milder climates of the South it can be grown as a perennial.