What I know about purple (Silverado) sage:
- It’s native to this area and very drought-tolerant. When other plants withered last summer, our two sages soldiered on.
- Deer don’t eat it. Yes!
- These gorgeous flowers are spurred by… rain. Not the season or any other natural signal. It’s like they’re celebrating the bounty with a fireworks display.
Pretty! Ours are just bursting open too (I call it Texas Sage) but my flowers are a much paler color. There are so many variations in these plants – I love it.
I don’t know what to call it, but Silverado is what it said at the plant store when I bought additional plants this year. I just did a search and it looks like it has a lot of different names, including “Barometer Bush” and “Texas Ranger” (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58362/) Glad to hear you’re enjoying the flowering, too!