I have tried every cool named salvia out there and I assume it’s lack of water as I don’t put them on irrigation, but rhythm and blues is the only one that reliably comes back. All of the red or pink salvias die before September and don’t come back. Any recommendations for good salvias that reliably don’t need much tending to. Pineapple sage also never comes back, seems very consistently drought stressed also for me. Which likely is why it never returns.
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Have you tried any of the Texas sage (Salvia greggii) cultivars that High Country Gardens offers? They’re the only red/pink ones I know of that are reliably perennial. I’m in a colder zone, so maybe there are more near you?
I have a pink one from them. It’s done well for me in NH. Getting it through the first winter is the hardest part. Once they’ve really sunk their roots in, they’re quite hardy. It looks like they’ve sold out of Texas Sage for the spring, but they should have more available in August.
They also have a nice “do’s and don’ts” article on Salvias that may help you troubleshoot:
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Have you tried Tropical Sage/scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea)? That is the native salvia here in Florida, and it handles dry spells pretty well. They do get sad if they aren’t watered and its 90 degrees out, but they push out new stalks fairly regularly. Our front field was full of them until they got mowed down, and there is no irrigation out there. We have pinks and reds (and others but I’m not sure if they are all tropical sage) in the butterfly garden, and the wild ones are like a pinkish white.
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