Solved Salvia greggii ID please

Any Salvia experts on this forum? Just bought (here in France) and planted a specimen of S. greggii, a nice red colour, but no variety mentioned on the label. I appreciate there are many varieties of Salvia in general and many varieties of S. greggii, but would be grateful if a more definite ID could be found!
Attached is a general pic of the specimen, but I can provide close-ups if needed. A quick search on the Internet yielded those names: Salvia greggii 'Maraschino'; 'Radio Red'; 'Mirage'; 'Arctic Blaze r ed'; etc.
Thanks in advance!

 

We have the same problem here. I recently bought a lovely dark Pink one.

 

There are so many red varieties, it's hard to say. My Mirage "Cherry Red" is a deeper red than that. "Royal Bumble" is a popular bright red one that's widely available from non-specialist garden centres etc in the UK, but I don't know whether the same varieties would be the promoted/widely available ones in France vs. UK.
There's one called "Wine and Roses" which has pink on the lower petals but going by internet pics I don't think it's quite the same. And I'm not sure if the pink on yours is part of the variety, or because it's hungry. Its leaves look pale and some have purple discoloration but that should resolve itself now that it's planted out and has access to more nutrients, and then you should see deeper green leaves and possibly deeper colour in the flowers.

 

Here's a thought - is there a code or anything printed on the label? That might give a clue. However in the UK at least, variety name is optional on plant passport labels

 

I wonder if it's Mirage Cherry Red, as those mirage series are one of those produced enough mass in Holland for the trade and overall looks very similar with the dark calyx. Just foliage is a bit paler but maybe it hasn't had enough sun so far.

 

@JennyJB Thanks for trying to help. I agree that that specimen looks hungry (and thirsty!); I'll post more pics in a few weeks if hopefully it looks in better shape and is still not ID-ed.
It's not 'Royal Bumble', of which there were a few (labelled) specimens sitting next to my unknown variety in the shop.
Could you please post pics of your Mirage 'Cherry Red' if/when it's in flower?
More suggestions welcome!
PS. There is a code on the label but it leads nowhere

 

This page has quite a few of the Mirage cultivars alongside Cherry Red. The white accent will also be variable according to temperature as well, but do a Google Image search there are quite a few shots of it.
Salvia greggii Mirage™ Cherry Red

 

Now here's an interesting thing!
My S. Mirage Cherry red looks a much lighter/brighter red when I photograph it (1st pic, sorry, it's not a good day for photos - windy so it won't stay still, and close to noon sun) than it does to my eye, so yours could indeed be that.



In the 2nd pic I've reduced the warmth in the picture and it looks a bit closer to what I see with my eyes, bringing out the purply bit on the upper lip, but it's still not exactly right.

 

Are you sure it's not one of the 'lips' ? There are others besides hot lips

 

Most of the "lips" have the white on the upper part, whereas Papi Jo's has the lighter colour on the lower part of just a few of the flowers near the top of the plant. I think that might be from lack of food or possibly from water splashing in the sun (I've seen that occasionally on my darker-coloured salvias) rather than the variety - hopefully we'll see how the newer flowers look in a few weeks when it's recovered from starving in a pot.

 

The French are very new to selling Salvias, and very few are named, just a label "type Greggii" .
The colours can vary with temperature as i have found in the past. Having said that, I have seen one or two labeled "Mirage". They seem to be fond of selling S farinacea down here. Sorry can't be more helpful at this stage.

 

Maybe S Wine and Rose, Sauge de graham Rouge.

 

My Wine and Roses looks indeed very similar to yours.

 

That does indeed look very similar @pitter-patter.

 

Thanks for all your informative replies. Still not sure what cultivar that is (and waiting from an answer from the GC). Here's a pic taken today. The Salvia is looking much healthier than when it was trying to survive in its pot in the GC!