The song says," I never promised you a rose garden," but the blooms only come periodically and the thorns are ever present. Roses suffer constantly from a myriad of garden ailments impossible to avoid: black spot, fire blight, aphids, white flies, and more. Garden center shelves bulge with chemical fixes for roses, a plant with the exception of its bloom looks like it should be growing on Mars (where, I'm sure roses on Mars would suffer all the ailments that afflict roses on Earth).

      Salvias on the other hand offer the Texas Gardener a lot more bang for the buck, more punch for the peso. Sages, as salvias are most commonly known, have been man's garden companions since the inception of agriculture, selected by the evolving hunter gatherers from the wild. There are several species and varieties you would be delighted to have in your garden. Salvias are drought tolerant and have long blooming periods.

   Culinary sage (salvia officianilis) is the herb that makes the stuffing we enjoy at Thanksgiving so fragrant. Breakfast sausage would be dull without the flavor and fragrance of sage. Officinalis struggles in the heat of Texas, but can thrive and be reliably perennial with sharp drainage to prevent over-watering and shade in the afternoon for some relief from the hot sun.

   Salvia Greggii is a native Texan that grows in the wild along the Rio Grande River. Widely available in the nursery trade at very reasonable prices, this delightful woody sub-shrub can make a nice contribution to any Texas landscape. To be truly perennial it should be mulched over in winter in more northerly climates. Blooms start in late spring and continue through summer and fall until frost. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds all feed on the little white, red, or coral tubular blooms. With its mannerly sprawling growth habit it is rarely found over two feet tall, but may grow to five feet in diameter.

   Mexican Sage (salvia leucantha) also needs some protection from frost with mulch, but each spring it rises again from its crown to become a magnificent plant growing by summer to equal a medium sized shrub with long panicles of tubular purple flowers with white throats. Hummingbirds and butterflies from miles away visit Leucantha judging from the visitors that I've observed feeding on its blooms in my garden.

"The Gardener's Guide to Growing Salvias"