California Native Flora » Purple Sage http://www.californianativeflora.com Euan Currie's Drought Tolerant Patio Garden of Mostly Natives Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:00:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Salvia Leucophylla – Purple Sage http://www.californianativeflora.com/plants/purple-sage/salvia-leucophylla-purple-sage/ http://www.californianativeflora.com/plants/purple-sage/salvia-leucophylla-purple-sage/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:57:21 +0000 Euan http://www.californianativeflora.com/?p=309 Salvia Leucophylla is a great candidate for a place in a hot Southern California patio garden. This native wildlife magnet does well in containers and the ground, soaks up all the sun you could give it and rarely will it ask for a drink (once established). It grows quickly up to 6′ tall and rewards gardeners and wildlife with whorls of lavender colored flowers in late spring through the summer. Hummingbirds, bees and butterflies enjoy the blooms and songbirds will be delighted when it produces seed later in the year. If you are looking for a low maintenance plant that looks good and attracts critters you cannot ask for much more than Purple Sage offers. Hell, even the leaves smell nice.

As a novice in the ways of the garden, I have just selected Purple Sage as my first California native to propagate from cuttings. I took two cuttings on Monday morning (March 1st) and will keep a close eye on them for the next few weeks. It’s purely experimental, I have no idea how it will turn out. If you are interested, the cuttings are new softwood, about 4″ or 5″ long. The substrate is 50% seed starting soil (a peat moss mix), 50% perlite. The pot is in bright but full shade and while I will be keeping it moist with a hand spray bottle it’s been raining quite a bit so nature is doing that little job for me.

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