Mexican bush sage


It is the flower time of Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha). The velvet purple and white flowers are held high above the slender branches and silvery grey leaves. They sway graceful in the gentle breeze creating a sea of purple flags. The flowers are the favorite nectar source of humming birds. Every morning and evening, the humming birds flitted around flowers drink the nectar or chasing each others. There are always a number of them darting around. When sun light hit the throat, the ruby feathers are iridescent. What a sight! Of course the honey bees are humming around the flowers, too.

The plants are easy to grow. They don't seem to mind the clay, alkaline soil here. They are also easy to propagate. Just a few stems with roots and stick the new stems in the soil and in a few weeks, they will have leaves and start growing. If it is done early in the spring, they will even flower. I usually cut the down to a few inches from the soil after flowers are over. The new silvery leaves will soon appear. The leaves are soft and velvety and feel nice to touch. A beautiful and easy plant for San Diego. If you want to attract humming birds, plant Mexican bush sage and they will come.

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