The purple sage is the second of seven desert plants that I recommend for people who want desert plants that are perennial (you need to plant them only once), hardy, low care, relatively drought resistant, easy to find, pretty cheap to buy, and provide lovely color many times during the year.
The botanical name for purple sage is Salvia. These are evergreen desert shrubs that flower several times throughout the year. There are three very common forms of purple sage that you'll see in the Phoenix area.
1. The green cloud variety of the purple sage has very green leaves and very bright purple flowers.
2. The Texas sage variety of the purple sage has green leaves and a lighter purple flower.
3. The thundercloud purple sage has silvery-green leaves with purple flowers, and has a spikier appearance.
Sage bushes take full sun and are drought-tolerant. Those beautiful bright purple blooms will come out after rain or when it is humid. You can also encourage blooming by giving them extra water. Let the ground dry out between waterings.
The toughest thing about the purple sage bushes is that you want to trim them to keep them neat, or to make a hedge out of them, but then you'll cut off all the purple flowers! So the trick to the purple sage is to prune when they are not flowering, and them let them grow out a bit when they are.
