Hot Lips Plant Winter Care is essential in maintaining your garden. Due to the wonderful variety of their blooms and their extended flowering period, hot lips or salvias are a great addition to any garden. These plants come in several varieties and knowing how to care for them properly will ensure that they maintain their stance.
Amongst the plant varieties, you can choose from shrubs, annuals, or perennials depending on your preference. No matter your choice, you can be sure that salvias will afford your luscious blooms that last much longer than others. For this reason, these stunning sage plants are commonly used in designer landscapes as border plants.
This is because they emit an eye-catching abundance of color with distinctive blooms to enhance the look of your garden. Have a look at the information below to learn more about the proper care and maintenance of these plants during the cold season.
Knowing Your Salvias Hot Lips Plant
When growing any plant, it is important to have a little background about them. This will enable you as a gardener to have an in-depth understanding of your plant’s needs. The woody sage known as hot lips is native to the north American country Mexico. Although it is categorized as a variety of Salvia it is typically thought to be Blackcurrant Sage.
The term hot lips refer to the blooms’ striking red lips that contrast with their white petals. This is what gives them the appearance of garish lipstick. The flowers might be bicolored red and white, or pure red and pure white depending on the environment in which the plant is grown. However, to maintain their lush look all year through, it is essential to follow the hot lips plant winter care tips provided below.
Bees are often drawn to the blossoms because of their nectar. The wide variety of salvias includes annuals, biennials, evergreen perennials, and shrubs. All of them share two-lipped flowers that are grouped in spikes with scented leaves. With annuals, no pruning is necessary; however, perennials require annual pruning to promote long-term healthy growth. Additionally, knowing how to care for salvias hot lips will allow you to the correct maintenance techniques required for the variety you’re cultivating.
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How To Prune Hot Lips Salvias – Hot Lips Plant Winter Care
If you’ve added this lovely garden favorite to your plot, learning how to trim salvias would be essential. Your borders and pots will always look their best with a good trim, which will help promote more flowers and healthier plant growth. Hot lips are an excellent addition to any landscape and if you know how to grow them properly, they will flourish.
Aside from their beauty, these plants also attract pollinators which is beneficial to your garden. However, keep in mind that after the spectacular blooming season in summer, your perennial salvia plant will benefit from pruning.
Therefore, cutting your plant back annually is recommended for an abundance of blooms. You should first keep in mind that winter is when the salvia plants tend to die back. Hot lips plant winter care is essential during this time.
Tips On How To Prune Hot Lips Salvias
1. To start, you will need a pair of garden scissors that are sharp.
2. Thereafter, old stems should be cut all the way back to the lowest shooting node.
3. Cut the stems to the base, where new growth ought to have developed.
4. If they completely died off over the winter, trim off all the dead parts of the plant.
5. It is important to make sure to deadhead blossoms throughout the summer.
6. After pruning, the salvias plant will look more organized, and flowering will be encouraged.
How Do You Overwinter Hot Lips
Caring for your salvia in winter is important. These plants bloom through the summer months until the first heavy frost and are known to be exceptionally drought tolerant. Despite losing a lot of leaves in the winter, hot lips plants grow happily outside in semi-hardy areas. They also thrive in sunny climates with well-drained soil.
To straighten them up and get rid of twigs, pruning is essential. In colder climates, growing these plants in pots or a greenhouse will keep them warm and dry. Repot them once a year and feed them frequently in the summer. However, most gardeners and home owners want to know how to winterize their plant.
Salvia is a vast genus of plants that comprises both hardy and non-hardy species. Plant breeders are known to grow various species to produce selections with distinctive qualities like a previously unseen flower color with a longer bloom period.
The perennial variety thrives in warm climates but during the colder months, when their growth slows down, shearing them back a little is best to winterize them. This will help to restructure the plant and promote new growth. Remember that most salvia varieties can overwinter in USDA zones 9 through 11 with the correct hot lips plant winter care.
Salvia Winter Care – Hot Lips Plant Winter Care
Salvias usually overwinter naturally when cultivated in zone 8. Perennials come back each year since they are more tolerant of colder climates. However, during this time, their growth slows down. This makes it a good time to trim back any damaged leaves to restructure your plant.
Hot Lips Plant Winter Care To Keep Them Healthy
- These plants often overwinter far more consistently in the ground rather than in containers. This would also depend on your climate.
- If your region experiences mild winter weather, it is best to locate a protected area outside to plant them on the ground.
- Ensure that your salvias are planted in well-drained soil.
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- Plants that are only moderately hardy may not survive the winter because of the moist conditions. To protect them, you should cut them back.
- Apply a thick layer of winter mulch around the plant’s roots once the ground has frozen. Mulch can assist the soil to maintain a stable temperature which is beneficial.
- To avoid heaving, plant your salvia in the ground early enough in the fall to give the roots time to adapt.
If you are planting your hot lips in pots, it is best to use a sizable, thick-walled container to insulate the roots. - Store your potted salvia in a warm indoor space.
Read more about Pineberry Plant Care – Best Practices For Abundant Berry Harvests
Conclusion – Hot Lips Plant Winter Care
Having knowledge of hot lips plant winter care will afford you happy and healthy plants. Whether you’re an avid gardener or just starting out, you must know that proper plant maintenance is key to a lush landscape.
Keep in mind that knowing how to trim, grow, and maintain salvias will increase their lifespan. Even if you live in a region that experiences cold, wet winters, taking heed of the tips in our guide would be of benefit to you and your plant.
However, these plants’ winter hardiness differs amongst cultivars. Therefore, we advise that you always keep shoots or clippings that you can replant.
