I had this for many years and I used to leave it until mid spring then I used to cut it down to about 6 inches and new growth came from the cut stems as well as from the root stock. Cant remember when I lost it. But I have Royal Bumble and several blue ones of the same habit and that what I do with them. also I take soft wood cuttings about now as an insurance against losing them in a hard winter.

Sbg has summed it up pretty well. Down here in the south, Hot Lips is treated as totally hardy, but further north, it would be wise to take cuttings as insurance

I’ll take your advice and do it in spring.It survived last winter but a purple one didn’t.