A true Texas native, the Texas Sage dots Lubbock landscapes with mounding silvery foliage covered with profuse blushes of vibrant purple blossoms.

Texas Sage is but one of the common names for Leucophyllum frutescens and, while known as Texas Sage, it is not a true sage - true sages are Salvia species in the mint family, Lamiaceae. What is called Texas Sage is known by several other common names: Purple Sage, Texas Silverleaf, Ash Plant, Texas Ranger, Compact Texas Sage, Wild Lilac, Senisa, Cenizo and the Texas Barometer Bush or Barometer Bush.

The spotty recent showers seem but a distant memory with our unrelenting scorching temperatures. But the showers were just enough to illustrate why Texas Sage is sometimes called the "Barometer Bush." Flowering in Texas Sage is triggered by moisture.

Texas Sage, Leucophyllum frutescens, comes from the Greek leucos, meaning white, and phyllon, meaning foliage, for its whitish, silvery foliage. Texas Sage is a figwort - a curious word, but a figwort is any foul-smelling, unpleasantly stinky herbaceous flowering plant in the Scrophulariaceae (skrah-few-lah-ree-aye-see-aye-ee) family.

The family name comes from the Latin scrofulae (a swelling of the neck glands), referring to its medicinal properties. Figworts are any plant of Scrophularia genus with clustered blooms on a central stem with the terminal flower developing first, followed by other lateral flowers in the cluster. To conjure an image of such a cluster, think of a better known and common flowering Scrophularian plant, the snapdragon. Both bloom summer into autumn.

The native range of Texas Sage is the Chihuahuan Desert from Northern Mexico into Texas through the Rio Grande Plains and Trans-Pecos, into the Western Edwards Plateau and into New Mexico. In its native habitat, Texas Sage is found on rocky caliche slopes and stony, calcareous soils. It is hardy to 5 degrees. Once Texas Sage is established, it is drought- and heat-tolerant and requires little maintenance. Because of these characteristics, it is often used in landscapes.

For the most floriferous display in the landscape, the Texas Sage must have full sun and planted in well-draining, alkaline soil. Foliage growth is spindly and sparse with few flowers when grown in shade. Plants do not need fertilization. Heavy watering in poorly drained soil exacerbates its susceptibility to cotton root rot.

Texas Sage makes an attractive accent or specimen planting in a xeric landscape and can be an effective hedge when allowed to grow into its natural form. Often it is brought into a landscape and sheared into balls or sheared into severe hedges. Such practices actually defeat one of the primary motives for using Texas Sage in the landscape – its lovely purple blooms. Light pruning in late winter before buds are formed produces a more pleasing natural shape while promoting flowering.

Some information from Missouribotanicalgarden.org

ELLEN PEFFLEY taught horticulture at the college level for 28 years, 25 of those at Texas Tech, during which time she developed two onion varieties. She is now the sole proprietor of From the Garden, a market garden farmette. You can email her at gardens@suddenlink.net.