Plant Database
Terra Seca Black Sage
Salvia melifera ‘Terra Seca’
Salvia mellifera 'Terra Seca' is a superior, low-growing selection of the California native Black Sage, prized for its compact, spreading habit, fragrant foliage, and tolerance for more water and shade than the species. This semi-evergreen shrub forms a wide, dense, mounding mat of linear, textured, aromatic, gray-green leaves. From early spring through summer, it produces an abundance of long, upright to arching stems bearing layered whorls (verticillasters) of small, two-lipped, tubular flowers in soft, pale lavender to white, creating a delicate, airy display. The flowers are highly attractive to native bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators, as well as birds and other wildlife. With its excellent tolerance for a range of conditions (including more shade and water than the species), its ground-covering habit, and its ecological value, it is an outstanding choice for native plant gardens, slopes (for erosion control), mass plantings, under oaks, wildlife gardens, and water-wise landscapes.