A luxuriant velvet sage becomes a dominant beauty in the light of fall.
Light Influences the Fall Fiesta
Botanists classify the Mexican native as a short day plant. A short day plant produces flowers when the days are shorter than 12 hours and nights are longer than 12 hours. The amount of darkness is the critical factor for the flowering of plants.
Mexican bush sage is a short day plant like Christmas cactus, chrysanthemums, goldenrods, kalanchoe, poinsettias, and single-crop strawberries.
Annuals like cosmos, garden balsam, marigolds and zinnias offer a second burst of flowers in fall because they are short day plants too.
Mexican Bush Sage’s Fiesta Wardrobe
Mexican bush sage is a spreading perennial with a mounding growth habit. Mature plants stand 2-4 feet tall and as wide.
The soft grey-green leaves resemble the shape of willow leaves with a tapering length of 1-5 inches long. The top leaf surface is more finely textured than garden sage and the underside is white and fuzzy. Horticulturist Allan Armitage describes the velvet touch of the leaves as “the lamb’s ears of sages.” Leaves are arranged in opposing pairs on the square stems of this mint family member.
The plant should be watered well until established and in long dry periods. However, mature plants are drought tolerant.
Small white or purple bi-lipped flowers emerge from 1-2 inch long velvety purple calyces.
The flowers are borne on elongated vertical clusters extending 6-12 inches to the tip of stems. Flowers bloom from bottom to top. At any given time the purple calyces are impressive with or without the flowers.
Cultivating Mexican Bush Sage
Mexican bush sage is winter hardy in USDA zones 7b-10. In zone 6 and colder it is grown as an annual.
For beginning gardeners Mexican bush sage is easy and fast to grow begetting success. The heat tolerant perennial needs six hours of sun per day.
The roots adapt to many different soils including alkaline clay to acidic sand provided the site is well drained. Space plants 2-3 feet apart.
In zone 7 prune the plant to the ground after a heavy frost and add a good layer of mulch to safeguard roots overwinter. Pruning in early June encourages new growth for fall.
Deer and insect pests leave the plant alone. Leaf spot may appear occasionally.
Mexican bush sage is propagated by seed, softwood cuttings, root division, and layering.
Fiesta Invitations
While Mexican bush sage is a fall fiesta as a single specimen, who wants to party alone? Invite other short day colorful companions to enliven the fiesta with their glorious colors and forms. Several short day choices include:
- Cosmos, Cosmos sulphureus
- Marigolds, Tagetes patula
- Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundolia
- Mexican tarragon, Tagetes lucida
For a more serene gathering pair Mexican bush sage with silvery artemesia, dusty miller, lamb’s ear, and yarrow.
Nectar-sipping pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to the rich source of nectar provided by Salvia leucantha.
Gardeners use the plant for fresh cut flowers and in dry arrangements. The purple calyces retain their color when dry.
Mexican bush sage is sited in perennial beds, in large containers, on slopes, as hedging, and in the middle of lawns.
Cultivars of Salvia Leucantha
While it is hard to improve on the species, horticulturists have introduced a number of cultivars with specific attributes.
- ‘Cislano’ – pink-lavender flower spikes on free form 5.5 foot tall subshrub
- 'Eder’- crème variegated foliage
- ‘Midnight’- deep purple calyces and flowers
- ‘Purple Velvet’ – ‘Midnight’ sold under a different name
- ‘Santa Barbara’- smaller compact mound to 3 feet tall
Depend on Señorita Salvia leucantha from south of the border to stage a fall fiesta in your garden.
Sources
- Armitage, Allan M. Armitage’s Manual of Annuals, Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials. Portland: Timber Press, 2001.
- Ingram, David S., Daphne Vince-Prue, and P.J. Gregory. Science and the Garden: The Scientific Basis of Horticulture Practice. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Co., 2004. Google eBooks online
- Siktberg, Robin. “Discover the Beauty of Sage.” The Herb Companion. August/September 2007.
- Winter, Norman. Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2003.
Arlene Marturano - Arlene Marturano, an educator, consultant, master gardener, and writer advocates gardens as a context and gardening as a tool for ...
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