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I can second Salvia Amistad as a good choice. These have been in my garden now for 5 years, and come back in July every year, flowering from August until prolonged fros in November – December. A bit of night frost alone doesn’t stop them. No winter protection other than leaving the dead stalks and foliage of other plants cut back to about 30cm above the ground They even push through a sea of bindweed (busy with other things I have not weeded this particular bed since April). The other plants are an Aster (self seeded, left) and a gold variegated Abelia grandiflora (middle ground of photo), which, while not very tropical, is a magnet for hummingbird hawkmoths and bees; and a good foil for large leaved tropical plants. Evergreen with flowers from late july to September and great red calyxes thereafter.
