PlantFiles: Cleveland Blue Sage, Fragrant Sage, Jim Sage, Mountain Sage
Salvia clevelandii

Although Salvia clevelandii is suppose to be hardy for zones 9 + it has grown in my zone 8 garden for over 8 years.

This is one of the garden's precious plants. I have managed to grow more from the seeds this year. We use the leaves for incense. It is sold on our area as Mountain sage.

I am growing the "Alan Chickering" cultivar of this sage.

When it blooms it gets to six feet in a showy display of the pagoda-tiered blooms, and it smells amazingly fragrant. Bees and hummingbirds love the nectar. It's a wonderful culinary sage, but it's important to go easy with it, since it's very strong.

It was one of the first plants I planted, and it survived a period where I couldn't water at all during a hot summer, so I give it high marks for xeriscaping. It needs pruning or it just gets bigger and bigger; we prune it back in the winter.

I love the unique bloom of this salvia. It was given as a housewarming gift and we were told to keep the blooms once they're spent, dry them, and burn them for incense. It handled much neglect in its gallon-container until we could get to it. Great xeriscaping plant.

This sage grew to a nice size over a couple of years in the somewhat dry, clay-ish soil at my old house.

I enjoy salvias in general, but this one is special to me because of the strange looking flowers. They look like double-tiered flying saucers.

Salvia clevelandii is an evergreen perennial sub-shrub with wrinkled 1" leaves on downy stems. Hardy to zones 9-10, flowers from spring to summer with violet or white blooms over gray-green foliage. Provide light sun, well-drained soil.