Texas Sage Blooms to Announce Rain

The Texas Sage is an evergreen (zones 9, 10 and southern part of 8)  to semi-evergreen (farther north than zone 8), heat and drought tolerant shrub with small blue-green hued leaves and pink flowers. This shrub needs well-drained soil; it is located in a raised bed near an old garden rose that blooms only in early Spring.

Texas Sage in Bloom

Blooms appear on the Texas Sage throughout the growing season, each time it rains—and usually before the rain arrives. This shrub has yet to bloom when rain is not in the area—it’s a great predictor of rain, but doesn’t distinguish between a sprinkle or rain and a downpour.

The blooms in this picture first appeared on Saturday morning and we received 3/4 ” of rain on Saturday afternoon. We have a 30% chance of rain today—with slight chances for the next two days—and there were fresh blooms this morning. (Simply watering the shrub will not cause it to bloom; it apparently needs the pressure changes associated with rain.)

This particular shrub is located on the North West corner of the house, so it gets a massive dose of evening sun throughout the year, and often receives the brunt of Fall/Winter storm winds. It is now about 4 years old and has grown from around 18″ to 4 feet or so.

Related articles

• Texas Sage: Here Comes the Rain Again (loofahsgood.wordpress.com)