This beautiful blue sage is named after a SLO County town

Salvia Pozo Blue

Pozo Blue sage (musk sage, native butterfly bush)

Planting areas: Zones 7B to 10

Size: 3 to 6 feet tall and wide

Bloom season: Late spring

Exposure: Full sun

Pruning needs: Can cut back in late fall to reduce size.

Water needs: Drought-tolerant once established.

Snapshot: Pozo Blue sage is a perennial hybrid created by the late, great native plant specialist Bert Wilson, founder of Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita.

Named for the stagecoach stop town of Pozo east of Santa Margarita, Pozo Blue is a cross between Salvia clevelandii and Salvia leucophylla.

With aromatic gray foliage and amazingly fragrant violet-blue flowers on long spikes, Pozo Blue is highly attractive to bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and even sphinx moths. California quail love using this sage for cover and eating its seeds.

Pozo Blue sage adapts to different soil types, including alkaline soil, clay and beach sand. Plant 4 to 5 feet apart in full sun for ideal fill-in and water until established. This sage is very drought-tolerant and can tolerate temperatures as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit with little damage.

In a mass planting, Pozo Blue is a magnificent sight, and the fragrance is truly incredible. Companion plants that complement this beautiful sage include California buckwheat, yarrow, ceanothus and manzanita, as well as other salvias. Cut a few flower spikes for a fragrant bouquet or use dried spikes in dried flower arrangements and wreaths.

So plant some Pozo Blue sage, sit back and enjoy all the fauna that the gorgeous flower spikes will attract.

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 1:35 PM with the headline "This beautiful blue sage is named after a SLO County town."