A compact Texas ranger with tiny silver-white leaves and rich violet-purple flowers that open after summer rains. It is one of the brightest silver shrubs for a desert garden and needs very little water once established.
Living with it in the Phoenix Valley
Watering
Follow the shrub schedule in our Landscape Care guide while it establishes. As a Chihuahuan Desert native, it should be kept lean after that, and it is less forgiving of extra water than most sages. Let the soil dry between waterings and keep it off lawn or flowerbed irrigation.
Pruning
Leave it in its natural, mounded form. Shearing it into a tight ball removes the flowers and exposes bare stems. If needed, thin or shorten individual branches in late winter or spring.
Planting
Set it no deeper than it grew in the nursery container, never in a basin that holds water, and where water drains away from the stem. Root rot is the main reason these sages fail.
How our designers use it
Silver contrast
Its pale foliage stands out against dark boulders, deep green shrubs and stucco walls, and glows at dusk.
Front of the bed
Its compact size suits walk edges and the front of a planting, where larger rangers would crowd.
With cactus and agaves
It shares their low water needs, so it can go on the same irrigation zone without being overwatered.
Good to know
Around the pool
No thorns and very little litter, though bees visit while it is in bloom. Keep it out of splash zones and wet spots, where constant moisture can rot the roots.
