Shrubby Blue Sage
Salvia ballotifloraShrubby Blue Sage is a shrub native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 3–5 ft tall and 5 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms white, blue and purple in May–Jul. Deer rarely browse it. Good for butterflies and hummingbirds.
Will it grow in your yard?
Enter your ZIP. The finder checks Shrubby Blue Sage against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.
The facts
4 sources- Type
- Shrub
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
- Water
- Low
- Height
- 3–5 ft
- Spread
- 5 ft
- Bloom
- May–Jul · white, blue, purple
- Foliage
- Deciduous or dies back in winter
- Soil
- Takes caliche and clay · recorded on calcareous, clay, dry, gravelly, limestone, sand, well drained
- Deer
- High — deer rarely browse it
- Wildlife
- Supports butterflies and hummingbirds
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
104 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.