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Hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) is named for some of its most enthusiastic fanshummingbirds.
It’s also resistant to many diseases and pests, and deer won’t generally touch it.
Think of this as the quintessential California coastal cottage ground cover.
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Soil
Hummingbird sage prefers a loamy or sandy well-drained soil.
Water
Hummingbird sage has extremely low water needs, and it does well even in drought conditions.
Once established, water it twice monthly.
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Below 20 degrees, it is still root hardy, and it will come back the next year.
It won’t hurt the plant to avoid pruning altogether.
However, deadheading the spikes once the flowers have faded will encourage continuous blooming from late winter through mid-summer.
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You’ll need a pair of gardening gloves, a sharp knife, and fresh soil.
It also isn’t impacted by many diseases, though it can fall victim topowdery mildew.
Known for its long bloom season, this is a popular plant for pollinators thanks to these vibrant blossoms.
Bloom Months
Expect a long bloom season with hummingbird sage.
You’ll be treated to the jewel-tone flowers all the way from February through July.
What Do Hummingbird Sage Flowers Look and Smell Like?
The flowers of hummingbird sage are a vibrant pink-red shade of magenta with a subtly sweet fragrance.
They have a tubular shape and are clustered in groups of up to 20 blooms along one tall spike.
Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds flock to its magenta flowers throughout its bloom season.
A spray designed to kill the powdery mildew will generallymitigate the problem.
Unlike other sage plants, hummingbird sage has green leaves rather than grayish-green.
It also has distinct spikes of magenta blossoms.
The hummingbird sage flower is a pink-red magenta.
