bugbite:
You may want to post your message on the Salvia forum of this site. Your plant is S.roemeriana "Hot Trumpets"
it is native here in Central Texas (northern Mexico also)we have 30"of rain on average. If you get more than that it may be wise to try some others. Like S.coccinea.. "Lady in Red" ,"Forest Fire",Both of these like shade and well drained soil w/a good amount of organic matter present.Some others to look at for shade S.subrotunda,S.praeclara and S.miniata.
Sunny locations-S.greggii S.microphylla "Hot Lips", S.splendens or vanhouttei (re-seeding annuals from Brazil).
Just to mention a few.
Salvia roemeriana blooms in the spring here.There is a second round of what looks like blooms but they actually set seed during this time (summer) in plants like this
they are called "Polymorphic". Have fun anyway!
Art

Hi Art,
Thanks for the info.
I am from Houston and know that climate well and went to colleges in 3 other locations in Texas so got a taste of weather in various parts. I feel that NE Florida, where I currently live, has a lot of similarities. Actually the humidity seems less here.
We get about 50 inches here. With the watering I do I drive that total way up. I am sure that Texas growers of Hot Trumpets probably add to the natural water total also. I guess it is the heat/humidity tolerance that means more plus the need for a certain level of cold for perennials.
Yvonne's Salvia does very well here (in my micro climate, anyway) and although the actual plant Salvia coccinea Sallynia did not do well, the plants that the seeds produced created excellent plants. Lady in Red, surprisingly, not good at all.
Some farinaceas and splendens do well and I have an amazing nemorosa.
I guess it is trial and error.
Just wanted some real live experiences with this plant from Texans. :-) I will go to the Salvia forum.
Thank you for the great info!
Bob

Salvia roemeriana grows naturally on my land under cedar trees. I never water it and my land is very porous and alkaline. It seeds very well and is slow to put on size so it is more of a ground cover.It might grow larger quicker where it isn'r as alkaline. I would conceder it fairly xeric, Texas style. It grows well wether we have 56" (2007) or 15" of rain..

Only plant lady in red if you don't mind having a few million come up next year. They go everywhere, I've had to fight them in every bed I have.

Thanks for the info. I entered "Salvia hot trumpets" in Yahoo and clicked images to look at pictures of the salvia again. On that page for some reason was an image called "Flickriver: pawightm's most ...". I clicked on it. Boy, what beutiful garden pictures. I attached the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pretty shots - makes me want to be there

Wow Bugbite! Thanks so much for passing along the link to that fabulous garden. I was wondering where it is located and according to one of the photo labels it's in Austin.