Texas Sage

Salvia texana

native · Hill Countrysold locally

Texas Sage is a perennial wildflower native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–1.5 ft tall and 1.5 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms blue, purple and violet in Mar–May. Deer rarely browse it. Good for butterflies.

Will it grow in your yard?

Enter your ZIP. The finder checks Texas Sage against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.

The facts

5 sources

Type: Perennial wildflower
Sun: Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water: Low
Height: 1–1.5 ft
Spread: 1.5 ft
Bloom: Mar–May · blue, purple, violet
Foliage: Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil: Takes caliche and clay · recorded on caliche, dry, limestone, rocky, well drained
Deer: High — deer rarely browse it
Wildlife: Supports butterflies

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandLimestone Cut Plain

984 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Sold at local nurseries. Confirmed in stock at a Central Texas grower in these sizes:

2.5 and 4.5 inch pots1 gallon

From the growers we read so far — a short list, not the whole trade. Call ahead.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.