Black Sage, Salvia mellifera

About Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) 79 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Black sage is the most common sage in California, and one of the keystone species of the coastal sage scrub plant community in the southern half of the state. Black sages grows quickly up to 3 feet in height, but mature specimens can reach up to 6 feet in height and 10 feet in width. The plant has attractive dark green leaves, with raised texture that looks somewhat like a fingerprint pattern when viewed closely. The leaves are 1-3 inches long. The upper surface of the leaf is somewhat smooth, while the lower surface of the leaf is hairy. It is semi-deciduous, depending on the location and severity of drought. Leaves curl during the summer drought instead of dropping off. The plant is highly aromatic. Flower occurs in.5-1.5" wide clusters. Flower colors vary from white, to pale blue, to lavender, or rarely to pale rose color. The plant flowers are an important food source for butterflies and hummingbirds. The seeds are an important food for quail and other birds.

Black sage is able to grow on a variety of different soils, including sandstone, shale, granite, serpentinite, and gabbro or basalt. It requires a minimum of 15" and a maximum of 40" of rain per year. In the drier part of its range, black sage is happier on flats, mesas or slope bottoms where there is slightly more moisture retained in the soil. Black sages tend to turn yellow and eventually die in poorly draining sites. The plant prefers sun, but tolerates part shade. The normal form of black sage can get very large. Prostrate forms of black sage grow to just 1-2 feet tall by 6 feet in width and tend to be denser than the normal form, making an excellent ground cover.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Shrub

Size

3 - 6 ft tall
3 - 10 ft wide

Form

Mounding

Growth Rate

Moderate

Dormancy

Evergreen, Summer Semi-Deciduous, Summer Deciduous,

Fragrance

Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color

Blue, Lavender, White

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.
Bird gardens

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 2 confirmed

, 9 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinusStrymon melinus

Pherne subpunctataPherne subpunctata

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Alfalfa Looper Moth Autographa californicaAutographa californica

Bilobed Looper Moth Megalographa bilobaMegalographa biloba

Virginian Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginicaSpilosoma virginica

Wavy-Lined Emerald Synchlora aerataSynchlora aerata

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Moisture

Extremely Low, Very Low

Summer Irrigation

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

Nurseries

Carried by 79

Ease of Care

Very Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to 30° F

Soil Drainage

Fast, Medium

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

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

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?

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?

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

Natural Setting

Site Type

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

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"

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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

Black Sage

Salvia mellifera

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Black SageSalvia mellifera

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Black Sage

Salvia mellifera