The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Perennials => Topic started by: Umbrian on September 08, 2014, 06:01:14 PM
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Several years ago I acquired a Salvia "Hot Lips" the flowers of which were white at the base of the lips and red from about half way to the tips. I noticed that on occasion the plant produced all white flowers and all red flowers although predominately they were bi-coloured. I passed on a rooted cutting to a fellow Forum member who has informed me that her plant has one red flower and one white........(I think she is a bit disappointed :)
Any comments?
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She was not disappointed just amazed, expecting all white flowers and finding that I had all combinations on one plant.
Just taken some cuttings so we'll see what we get next !!!!
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'HOT LIPS' can do that; show variation between red and white tho' remaining predominantly bi-coloured. I'm not sure if anyone has ever tried to propagate the all white or all red sprigs. Might be fun to see what happens.
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I'lltry and let you know
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I've grown Salvia 'Hot Lips' for several years both in Greece and in the UK. In my experience the variation in flower colour varies from year to year and even from one flush of flowers to the next on the same plant. I've always assumed it's to do with the weather, amount of water and possibly the soil and other growing conditions. I have noticed a tendancy towards one colour or the other or towards bicolour in different parts of the garden but have not documented it over time. All my plants are grown from cuttings from one original plant. It'll be interesting to hear if cuttings from a white only or red only plant result in single coloured plants or if the variation continues in the progeny. I'll certainly take greater note of flower colour around the garden in future.
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I planted a self raised cutting from my original "Hot Lips" plant in the new garden I am creating. The soil in this garden is good and friable and this year we had cooler temperatures and a lot more rain than normal. The plant grew and grew ( as did almost everything else I planted), the flowers were prolific and......all bi-coloured whereas the mother plant, coping with heavier soil and, in normal years no irrigation,is still much smaller and producing far fewer flowers that often are all red or all white. So, perhaps the answer does lie in the soil and/or weather conditions although I always consider Salvias to be pretty tough characters on the whole. Obviously I have no idea whether the cutting came from a branch with white flowers, red flowers or bicolored ones but I would not think it likely that one could produce a single coloured plant by this method of selection although it would be an interesting experiment.
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I realize that I am a couple of years or so out of date with this thread but perhaps better late than never. :)
We've had our 'Hot Lips' for several years and it regularly produces a combination of the colours mentioned, all-red, all-white or bi-coloured. I read somewhere that it was to do with the time of year and the temperature but I've never found any correlation between the two.