It looks like salvia coccinea, but it's impossible to tell which cultivar, except that it is not one of those with light pink and white. It is not hardy where you are, but if the site kept open you can expect seedlings next year - they produce babies like mad. Hummingbirds love this flower, especially if you provide a good sized patch. Starting them indoors at tomato starting time will ensure a good June flowering, and if they are kept deadheaded they will bloom until frost.

Thank you Wardw. I figure with my luck, they will either ALL die or "good sized patch" will be an understatement next summer. Hoping to get at least a couple through the winter. I planted three very close to my foundation that I will leave there and I'm going to try keeping some in my garage over winter too. Also have harvested some seeds in case I don't get any volunteer seedlings in the spring.
Going to try to post the same photo a little larger. This may be the same size as the first one so just ignore me if I mess this up. : )

Christie, that is a very pretty plant. The leaves look like my B&Bs. How tall does it get? I'm making some new planting areas and may want to add this one next spring. Linda

Most coccineas grow a couple of feet and a little taller. I've always wanted to do a mass planting with zinnias mixed in. By the way, Forest Fire was a coccinea type I saw at several nurseries this year. A very similar one is Lady in Red. I think Lady in Red has larger individual flowers but the flower color is about the same - red which sometimes fades to pink as a flower fades. In the past I interplanted this species with many other plants, but look out - millions of babies.

Here are pictures of my "Forest Fire" that bloomed last year (grown from seed), in part sun. Yours has a bit more pinkish tinge than mine. This year I had winter sown it again and planted it in full sun, and it's alot larger than the plant from last year. I haven't had a chance to upload a recent picture.

Thank you Tracey. The photo makes mine look more pink than it really is I think. It might have been taken when it was hotter out though and maybe they were faded at the time. I didn't see any pink yesterday when I looked.
I'll try to collect enough seeds to do some winter sowing. Glad to hear you had good luck. I've tried winter sowing other salvias and didn't get ANY seedlings. I covered them with a thin layer of soil and then read later that they are supposed to be sowed on the surface. Is that the way you sowed yours? I will try it the right way this time and see what happens. I've been trying to get some seeds from my guaranitica too but they are very selfish and I have a grand total a four seeds so far.

Christie; I've actually had pretty good luck winter sowing salvias. Last year someone had sent me some red S. guaranitica, but didn't germinate. I tried them again this (thank goodness I didn't sow them all) and they germinated. They look almost like FF with lighter foliage. I never investigate HOW they should be sown, but I'm pretty consistent with covering the seeds with a light dusting of soil.

I should've mentioned that sometimes my camera can't take a good picture of red flowers; these were the best shots I'd ever gotten. Sometimes they come out a bit pink as well. I can forget about taking close ups of reds; they generally blur, or the color just radiates, giving me a lousy picture. Once in a while though I do get lucky.

Here's the salvias I had winter sown with success:
S. coccinea, "Forest Fire" - two years in a row. But, it didn't reseed last year :(
S. farinacea - "Victoria", "Wedgewood Blend", & Mealy Blue Sage (tall & pretty).
S. nemerosa, "Caradonna", although I don't remember where it is - may have died.
S. x.superba - "Blue Queen" & "Rose Queen"
S. x.sylvestris - "May Night" (although it looks more like Purple Loosestrife!!!)
Salvia ? - "Violet Blue"
Salvia "Yvonnes" - spectacular!!!

The two that didn't make it:
S. lyrata
S. farinacea, "Blue Bedder"

They were all winter sown between December and April, but my "Forest Fire" was sown very late, on April 30th, as was the red guaranitica. I'm harvesting seeds from both right now (yippeee!), although I haven't really noticed if I had gotten alot or not.

I've never grown S. coccinea 'forest fire,' but a friend of mine has. Below is a link to pictures of his backyard humgarden, including the S. c. 'forest fire,' which he says didn't work too well as a hummer plant. Sure looks like a good hummer plant, though.

I tried three different Salvia coccineas from seed this year, all of which worked well--'lady in red', 'dwarf hummingbird', and the species. 'Lady in red' was the most floriferous and intermediate in height, and had lighter green leaves and pinker blooms than the other two. The species Salvia coccinea was the tallest; and 'dwarf hummingbird' was the most compact, and also had darker green leaves, dark calyces, and redder flowers than the other two. All three did a good job of attracting and feeding hummers. Since they were all planted in close proximity in my backyard, any seed I collect and plant next year should grow plants with a mixture of characteristics.

Here is a link that might be useful: humgarden pictures with comments on plants

Thanks for that link Ornithophilous. What a shame your friend has to move away from his garden to a colder climate. I didn't have as many hummingbirds this year as last and didn't see any around my mystery coccinea but maybe next year. I'm adding Salvia microphylla 'San Carlos Festival' to my wish list since your friend had such good luck with it attracting hummingbirds. I saw that one rated zone 6 on one description.
Has anyone tried growing seeds from that one?
Tracey - Thank you! I noticed this week I have several seedlings coming up around my May Night and was wondering whether they will be worth keeping. I don't really need more May Nights. I already have a few (which aren't all the same by the way). I may have gotten a couple that were mislabled and now they're making babies. : )

For some reason my San Carlos Festival hasn't been setting seed, in fact my other microphyla Wild Watermelon also is not setting seed. I'm crossing my fingers about overwintering San Carlos Festival. I've heard zone 6 & 7 & 8, so it is a waiting game. A few cuttings are in order just in case. It does attract hummingbirds, although I wouldn't use it as a summer mainstay. Better to stick with a patch of salvia coccinea for that, since it doesn't have any down time.

Guess what I found? Two FF seedlings, in the area of the main plant last year (where I didn't replant it this year). They're pretty small, about 8", and are blooming! Better late than never, eh?

That's pretty late Tracey, especially for your hummingbirds. : ( It's not going to attract very many this time of year is it. That tells me I need to either start it early or try to winter it over instead of waiting on volunteers. I have several that are flowering now but they were seedings from the original pot which may have been in a greenhouse before I bought it so that would cause them to get an earlier start. ALL my seedlings look like little clones of the parent plant. I was hoping for more variation but they're good bloomers at least.

Hi Christie and Tracey! I have hordes of Lady In Red Salvia. They popped up all over the place this year! I had sewn a bunch of pink and white flowers and some pink and white bulbs in a Hanging Basket...Lady In Red Salvias popped up and are now 2' tall. How many pink and white flowers and flowering bulbs germinated you ask? Nada, zip, zero. Go figure that one!

Here's a pic or two of mine from this morning...

I've been collecting seeds for the past couple of years and reseeding among the new plants that I buy and plant in the Spring. The seeds germinate then outgrow the ones I planted by mid Summer.

My LIRS must be the exception to the rule. I always hear folks say theirs are just a couple of feet tall. Mine are currently 5'-4" and still growing!

In the second pic the silver L-rod is about 4' tall and the LIRS growing up through the 1st and 2nd hanging baskets on the left are the 5'-4" ones.

I'd say it's never too late to plant little sprouts. I pluck them out of the cracks in my back patio and plant them in the barespots of the gardens around the yard. Just the other day I witnessed a little hummer sipping from each of the little ones that are flowering along the back fence.

Those seeds are pretty hardy too, I'd say. The batch I'd collected last year got all sorts of moldy, crusty and rotten looking, but I broke them up and scattered them about anyway. Sure enough, they grew up just fine.

I can't recommend them enough! ~King Cupheaphea.

I have those same salvia that came in a "hummingbird shaker garden" I bought from Lowe's. Tons of zinnias came up along with that plus lemon balm, some sunflowers and a few I don't know the names of. It ought to be interesting in that garden spot next spring seeing how many seeds they all are giving off...I would save them and plant them more orderly, but I have not the discipline nor the time. I'll let nature take her course and see what I get! And then I will be here complaining of the mess I have...lol!