Salvia chamaedryoides is a beautiful, primarily evergreen subshrub with a slightly dense mounding and spreading habit and grows 12 to 18 inches tall to 3 to 4 feet wide. It extends outward from shoots from a spreading rootstock - it tends to mound towards the middle with branches spreading along the ground.
It has small, narrow, half-inch-long gray-green leaves and dark blue flowers that appear almost year-round, except in the coolest seasons when the plant drops some leaves, becoming somewhat semi-deciduous. Its peak blooming period is mid-spring through late fall.
This Salvia does best when placed in full sun to very light shade in well-draining soil where it requires little watering once it's established. Hardy to 5-10°F and can be grown into USDA zone 8 and possibly seven, where it can regrow after freezing. In hot inland locations, it does better with some shade and occasional irrigation. It is an excellent plant with sparkling blue flowers as a small-scale ground cover for the dry or occasionally irrigated garden and is good at the front of the border. It is an excellent plant for attracting hummingbirds and other pollinators.
Germander Sage is native to the high Chihuahuan desert from 7,000 to 9,000 feet in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. Salvia comes from the name used by Pliny for a plant in the genus and comes from the Latin word 'salvere' meaning "to save" about the long-believed healing properties of several Sage species.
