Salvia leucantha

Salvia leucantha, the Mexican bush sage, is one of the great fall salvias, grown for arching wands of flower that seem spun from felt. Long spikes rise above the foliage in late summer and fall, densely packed with velvety purple calyces from which small white corollas emerge, a soft two-tone effect that catches low autumn light and holds for weeks. Few plants close the gardening year with such generous, easy color.

Native to the subtropical highlands of central and eastern Mexico, the Mexican bush sage builds a rounded, shrubby mound of arching stems clothed in narrow, gray-green leaves, white-woolly beneath and aromatic when brushed. The whole plant has a silvered, soft-textured quality even out of bloom, and the flower spikes cut and dry beautifully for arrangements, holding their color long after picking.

The late flowers are a magnet for hummingbirds fueling up for migration, along with bees and butterflies, at a season when little else offers so much nectar. Deer tend to pass the woolly foliage by, and the plant asks for almost nothing once settled beyond sun and sharp drainage.

Site Salvia leucantha in full sun in well-drained soil, at the back or middle of a border, in a pollinator planting, or in a large container, and pair the purple-and-white spikes with warm-season grasses, asters, and the golds of autumn. In zone 8 and warmer the plant returns from the root each spring; farther north it makes a fast, spectacular annual. Cut the old growth down in late winter to make way for fresh stems.