Scarlet Sage
Salvia coccinea
A native sage with loose whorls of bright red flowers from early summer to frost, at its best in the hottest months, and hummingbirds and butterflies love it. It's easy in sun or part shade, sand or clay, takes drought and deer, and reseeds freely. Where winters freeze, grow it as an annual.
- Mature size
- 2.5 × 1.5 ft
- 0.8 × 0.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 8a–10b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium
- Blooms
- May–Oct
Scarlet Sage at its mature size
A mature Scarlet Sage grows 1 to 4 feet tall and 1 to 2.5 feet wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
Through the year
What Scarlet Sage looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Below ground · Dec–Mar
Dies back to the ground; draw nothing but keep it selectable.
New growth · Apr, Nov
Low clump of green leaves, few flowers.
In leaf · May–Oct
Slender spikes of scarlet tubular flowers.
Photos
Growing Scarlet Sage
- Grows well in
- The Southeast and the Plains and Mountain West.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Deer resistant and pollinators
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- Southeastern United States, Texas, and Mexico
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Scarlet Sage, that’s about 1.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Scarlet Sage in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other salvias and sages
Scarlet Sage
Autumn Sage
Mexican Bush Sage
Russian SageAll drawn to the same scale.