Salvia greggii Cherry Lips

Salvia greggii Cherry Lips® ('Dysceri') is a shrubby sage with bicolour cherry red and white flowers that stand out in sunny borders and large containers. Compact and well-branched, it forms a brightly coloured clump, busy with the comings and goings of pollinating insects. Undemanding and drought-resistant once established, this pretty sage offers a particularly long flowering period for minimal maintenance.

This variety belongs to the Lamiaceae family, the large family of sages and mints. The botanical species Salvia greggii, related to Salvia microphylla and the hybrid group Salvia × jamensis, goes by the names of Gregg's sage, Texas sage, or autumn sage. In its native range, southwestern Texas and northern Mexico, it grows on rocky slopes and poor, very free-draining soils, subject to scorching summers and dry winters. It is a shrubby perennial hardy to around –10/–12 °C in light soil.
Cherry Lips® is a horticultural selection by the English nurseryman David Dyson, chosen for its regular habit and its well-contrasted bicoloured flowers, in a particularly stable cherry and white. The plant forms a small, rounded shrub 80 to 90 cm tall and 70 to 80 cm wide. Its growth is fairly rapid in the first few years, then stabilises. The quadrangular stems become woody with age. The foliage is semi-evergreen to evergreen in mild climates, and is formed of small oval, 1 to 2 cm long, bright green leaves. When crushed, they release a herbaceous, slightly resinous scent, typical of Mexican sages.
The flowering is the great asset of Salvia greggii Cherry Lips®. From May-June until the frosts, with a pause if the summer is very dry, the plant is covered with fine floral stems bearing loose spikes. The tubular, two-lipped flowers measure around 1.5 to 2 cm long: the upper lip remains white, the broad and rounded lower lip takes on a cherry red to bright magenta tone.

Salvia Cherry Lips® can be planted at the edge of a border, on a sunny bank, at the foot of a warm wall, or in a large pot on the terrace. It will be hardier in soils that are very well-drained in winter. It can be combined with other shrubby sages like Salvia greggii Amethyst Lips® with its purple and white flowers. It will form a beautiful ensemble with Perovskia 'Lacey Blue' and Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’. A few clumps of Stipa tenuifolia or a compact Chinese fountain grass will accentuate its rounded habit and add lightness to the scene.