Mexican Bush Sage
Salvia leucantha
A fast, shrubby sage with arching spikes of velvety purple and white flowers from late summer to frost, lovely in borders and cut, and hummingbirds and butterflies visit. Deer and rabbits leave it alone, and it handles some drought once settled. Cut it back each late winter; hard freezes can kill it.
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- Mature size
- 3 × 4 ft
- 0.9 × 1.2 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 8a–10b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium
- Blooms
- Aug–Nov
Mexican Bush Sage at its mature size
A mature Mexican Bush Sage grows 2 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 6 feet wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: San Marcos Growers, NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Mexican Bush Sage looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Dec–Jul
Gray-green narrow leaves, no flowers.
In flower · Aug–Nov
Arching stems with velvety purple-and-white flower spikes.
Photos
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Growing Mexican Bush Sage
- Grows well in
- California, the desert Southwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Deer resistant, pollinators, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- Mexico and Central America
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Mexican Bush Sage, that’s about 4 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Mexican Bush Sage in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other salvias and sages
Autumn Sage
Scarlet Sage
Mexican Bush Sage
Russian SageAll drawn to the same scale.