Family: lamiaceae

This shrub, which can potentially reach 6x6’, though usually smaller, is famous for its wonderful, sagey smell. It is often pruned to smaller dimensions. Though this plant is evergreen, sometimes they can look sickly in June, sometimes July, due to dormancy. Plants in full sun with no break in the afternoon (in summer) are most likely to show these signs of dormancy—and the more established the plant is, the less likely it will do this. Plants bloom with spectacular lavender-purple, tubular flowers that are arranged in on disks which are stacked on spikes, spring into summer (sometimes in other seasons in warm weather).

Grow in full to part sun, with moderate water, good drainage. As mentioned, in the summer some afternoon shade is welcomed. Hardy to 10°. Cut back when plants look like they need it.

Flowers attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and many other nectar-seeking insects. Moth larval food plant for the Alfalfa Looper Moth (Autographa californica), Bilobed Looper Moth (Megalographa biloba), Wavy-Lined Emerald (Synchlora aerata), the geometrid Pherne subpunctata, and the plume moth Anstenoptilia marmarodactyla.

Named after a botanist, and has nothing to do with the city of the same name. The genus name Salvia derives from salvēre (to feel healthy, to heal) referring to the medicinal nature of many plants in the genus. The species was named in 1874 by Asa Gray, honoring plant collector Daniel Cleveland, an American lawyer, politician, civic leader and botanist who had taken an interest in the local flora and fauna, sending his collections to Gray over a 20-year correspondence.