Red-Flowered Pineapple Sage
Salvia elegans
Introduced as an ornamental garden plant around 1870, the common name comes from the scent of the leaves when crushed. It blooms late in the season, producing tubular scarlet-red flowers that are highly attractive to hummingbirds. Leaves and flowers are edible; can be used whole as a garnish or chopped and added to salads or desserts. As an herb, the leaves and flowers are most commonly steeped in water to make herbal tea, either hot or cold, and can also be used in jellies or for potpourri.
Water: Keep evenly moist
Hardiness: Can be damaged in deep frost
Habit: Perennial sub-shrub that is semi-woody to herbaceous. Produces an open-branched clump of erect, square stems covered with yellow-green leaves.
Light: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Soil: Average, well-draining soil
Origin: Edges of pine and oak forests in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains of Mexico and Guatemala
Additional Characteristics: Edible Flower
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