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Salvia leucantha ( SAL - vee - uh loo - KANTH - uh ) is a member of the Lamiaceae ( ballad - mee - AY - see - center ) sept of plant hail from Mexico and Central America .
This shrubby , evergreen plant perennial is also known as :

The genus name , Salvia , is derive from the Latin , salveo , which think of to heal or to economize . Salvia plants are known to have curative attribute and often used in folk medical specialty . The specific name , leucantha , refers to the works ’ livid flush .
Salvia Leucantha Care
Size & Growth
Mexican Bush Sage turn to a height and width of 2 ’ to 3 ’ foot tall . It can attain this height and width in a single season . It is often plant as an annual in areas where the winter are too frigid for it to live from yr - to - year .
The flora ’s fragrant gray - green leafage are spear - form , and velvety . They arise in pairs on either side of the satisfying stem and may be up to 4 ” inches long .
Popular Varieties of Salvia Leucantha
Flowering & Fragrance
This Salvia produces an abundant number of glossy flowers in late summertime with numerous fuzzy purple calyces in multiple colors on the same plant . Blooms may be violet , inscrutable pinkish , livid or bicolored combination .
The flowers spring up densely on arch spikes that are about 10 ” inches long . The flowers suffer luxuriously above the foliage and are accessible and veryattractive to hummingbird , bees and butterfly stroke .
Bloom time is late summer through late autumn .
Light & Temperature
A full sun setting is good , but this Salvia can permit light nicety in the afternoon .
Velvet Sage is winter hardy in USDA hardiness zones 8 through 10 . In areas with slenderly colder winters , this Salvia may overwinter if abridge back and heavily mulched before the first frost .
Watering & Feeding
It is upright to provide unconstipated lachrymation , but this unfearing Salvia can tolerate some drought .
At the first of the growing season , mulch deeply with garden compost or well rotted manure to feed the flora and help retain wet in the soil .
Soil & Transplanting
Mexican Bush Sage perform best in well - drained , evenly moist , fat , slightly alkalic dirt .
Grooming & Maintenance
Regular deadheadingwill further Purple Velvet to produce more bloom . At the final stage of the growing time of year , prune the plant back and mulch deeply to render protection from the cold .
More Salvia Sages You May Like:
How To Propagate Salvia Leucantha
Purple velvet is easily maturate from seeded player , which you should commence indoors a couple of months before the last predicted freeze escort .
Alternatively , you could buy seedlings at your local nursery . Either way , put your seedlings out after the last frost in the springtime .
you’re able to also circularize Mexican Bush Sage from cuttings . At the last of the growing season , you may plainly trim away 3 ” to 4 ” column inch cutting and place them in water to take rootage .
Once they have , transplant them to their own smoke and keep them as houseplant until springiness .
Salvia Leucantha Pests or Diseases
Mexican Sage has no serious disease or worm problems . exuberant tearing may direct to leaf spot .
Is The Leucantha Salvia Considered Toxic or Poisonous?
This medicative plant is not considered toxic .
Is The Leucantha Salvia Considered Invasive?
This plant is not listed as invasive in the United States .
Suggested Salvia Leucantha Uses
This woody sage makes an first-class choice as an ornamental border industrial plant in full sunshine . It also does well in containers and as a bedding plant .
royal velvet is not specially attractive to cervid , but it is very attractive to pollinators . It make a o.k. addition to your herb garden , butterfly garden or pollinator garden .
With its bright , fragrant , showy prime and spread increment substance abuse , Mexican Sage looks gorgeous in mass plantings , cascade over rock walls or keep as case-by-case specimen plants in container or hang baskets .