Probably just a little time. Lots of water too, considering the heat that arrived last weekend. Once established, all of my salvias have thrived with little care. I wasn't able to bring them through winter, however.

I live in NJ, zone 6, where late spring and summer are generally hot. I've grown salvias for several years, and I
find that mine don't really "thrive" in summer, rather, they
do their best in early fall when temps. go down a bit. This
seems to be true for "lady in red" and "coral nymph" salvia.
I find too, that they will reseed in late summer and produce
a few "extra" plants near the original ones. Good luck.

A good idea is to mulch around the plant since the soil is getting hot too. Something I have to do soon.

One of the four salvias I planted is getting some shade from the phlox david that is next to it. That one is doing well. The others have full exposure to sun, and have faded color.

So it seems that dappled shade or part shade is better than full sun for these guys, even though the tag that came with the plant says full sun.

Helena, I will try mulching around them. Thanks.