Salvia Species, Blue Mountain Sage, Cleveland Sage, Fragrant Sage, Jim Sage

I first encountered the fragrance of this plant at the Santa Barbara Mission in California, and was overwhelmed. So very fragrant!! I a...Read Morem now attempting to grow it in my Zone 10 (8a/8b) garden in Bakersfield. The hardest part, I have found, is resisting the urge to give it water...

I have grown many cultivars of this plant in my zone 8 Portland Oregon home over the last 3 years. We have had three winters in a row wit...Read Moreh a hard freeze, this most recent being VERY early in the season. My experience is they all freeze very easily around here with the exception of the cultivar 'alpine' that they sell at Las Pilitas nursery out of California. For some reason 'Alpine' has been leaps and bounds hardier than the rest for our climate and soil.

I had mulched the crown of all of my salvias so it appears that the frozen ones will recover in the spring. I did not mulch last year and lost ALL of my salvia clevelandii frozen to the core. That being said I echo all the positives that everybody is saying. I planted some along the front sidewalk and they stop all the passers-by with their intense fragrance, seemingly made stronger when they are wet.

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 ...Read Moresold on our area as Mountain sage.