Home
Advanced Search Map Locator
View Settings
Nurseries Carrying this Plant Add Current Plant To List Edit Current Plant
Show all Photos

About Calscape Nurseries
California Garden Planner Bay Area Garden Planner (NEW) Planting Guide
Butterflies My Plant Lists
Contact Calscape
Tap map to see plants native to location
Order by Popularity Order by Common Name Order by Scientific Name Order by # of Butterflies Hosted
Show nursery cultivars Hide nursery cultivars
Show plants not in nurseries Hide plants not in nurseries
Grid view Text view
Loading....
Black Sage
Salvia mellifera
  
85 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) 85 Nurseries Carry This Plant Black sage is the most common sage in California. Though less showy than other Salvia species and cultivars, it is an important food source for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The flowers are small and pale blue-lavender in color. After blooming, black sage seeds provide food for birds, including quail and towhees.

A black sage shrub can grow up to 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide. In the garden, this aromatic plant prefers full sun and well-draining soil. It is a low-moisture plant, requiring no supplemental water once established. It is usual for the small, dark green leaves to curl during summer drought.
Bornstein, C., Fross, D., & O’Brien, B. (2005). California Native Plants for the Garden.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Shrub

Size
Size
3 - 6 ft tall
3 - 10 ft wide

Form
Form
Mounding

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Moderate

Dormancy
Dormancy
Evergreen, Summer Semi-Deciduous, Summer Deciduous,

Fragrance
Fragrance
Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color
Flower Color
Blue, Lavender, White

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Winter, Spring, Summer

Wildlife Supported
 
Insects, especially bees and butterflies, and hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers. Quail, Towhees and other birds are attracted to the seeds.

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 2 confirmed , 8 likely * ) SHOW ALL
Strymon melinus Image
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinusStrymon melinus
Pherne subpunctata Image
Pherne subpunctataPherne subpunctata
*
Autographa californica Image
Alfalfa Looper Moth Autographa californicaAutographa californica
*
Megalographa biloba Image
Bilobed Looper Moth Megalographa bilobaMegalographa biloba
*
Spilosoma virginica Image
Virginian Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginicaSpilosoma virginica
*
Synchlora aerata Image
Wavy-Lined Emerald Synchlora aerataSynchlora aerata
*
Spoladea recurvalis Image
Hawaiian Beet Webworm Spoladea recurvalisSpoladea recurvalis

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Extremely Low, Very Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 1x / month once established, Never irrigate once established

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 85

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Very Easy

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 30° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium

Soil Description
Soil Description
Tolerates a variety of soils although it is happier with good drainage. Tolerates Gabro Soil,Tolerates Serpentine Soil. Soil PH: 4.0 - 8.0

Common uses
Common uses
Bank Stabilization, Groundcovers, Hedges, Deer Resistant, Bird Gardens, Butterfly Gardens, Bee Gardens

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina), Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia), Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), Scrub Oak (Quercus berberidifolia), Woolly Bluecurls (Trichostema lanatum), Climbing Penstemon (Keckiella cordifolia), California Encelia (Encelia californica), California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), Coast Sagebrush (Artemisia californica), California Adolphia (Adolphia californica), Diplacus puniceus, Chaparral Bush Mallow, White Coast Ceanothus (Ceanothus verrucosus) Hollyleaf Redberry (Rhamnus species), Manzanita (Arctostaphylos species), Yucca species, Dudleya species and cactus species

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: No treatment; sow outdoors in early fall. Germination may be poor. The following alternative treatments may improve germination: stratify 3 mos. or soak in 400 ppm GA3 1 hr., then dry and sow (Betty Atwater, personal communication 1981).

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
7*, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Flats, mesas, foothills, canyons, shallow slopes, and slope bottoms as part of coastal sage scrub and chaparral

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 4.5" - 51.2", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 2.64", Coldest Month: 34.4" - 60.4", Hottest Month: 58.6" - 88.3", Humidity: 0.41" - 42.82", Elevation: -18" - 6692"


Print Plant Sign Print Plant Label
Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


Sign in to your Calscape Account X




Once signed in, you'll be able to access any previously saved plant lists or create new ones.

Email Address
Password

Sign In