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Blue Oak Sage

Salvia chamaedryoides

Also called Chihuahuan Desert Sage, Germander Sage

Blue Oak Sage
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0

Blue Oak Sage is a low, spreading evergreen subshrub from the high desert of Mexico, valued for its small grey foliage and blue flowers. The key to growing it is sharp drainage and sun, since it dislikes wet roots.

Family
Lamiaceae (Mint family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Free-draining, gritty or sandy soil; tolerates poor, rocky ground.
Temperature
Hardy to around -10 °C once established; protect from prolonged freezing and wet cold.
How easy
Easy
Native range
C. Mexico (to Hidalgo)
Climate
subtropical

About

Salvia chamaedryoides, or germander sage, is an evergreen perennial native to the high desert (2100–2800 m elevation) of the Sierra Madre Oriental range in Mexico. Its name comes from sharing the running rootstock typical of Teucrium chamaedrys (wall germander). Spreading freely, it reaches a height of 60 cm (24 in) when in bloom, with small grey evergreen foliage. The flowers are blue, appearing sporadically throughout the growing season, with peaks of bloom in early summer and autumn. It has been grown in European horticulture since the early 19th century, but was only introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s.

Other Salvia plants

Turkish Black Sage · Wuyi Mountain Sage · Salvia adoxoides · Egyptian Sage · Orange Sage · Mediterranean sage · African Blue Sage · Salvia alatipetiolata · Cederberg Sage · Handsome Sage · Algerian Sage · Salvia amethystina

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salvia chamaedryoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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