The world of horticulture is truly fascinating, and I am always interested in the names of plants and their origin, because sometimes it is quite surprising, as is the case here! I would never have thought that this stunning blooming bush was actually a native of Texas and Mexico, but yes indeed! Wonderful species make their way around the world, which has been the case since the earliest ships left Europe for distant lands and returned with specimens! This past August during our second week of vacation we stayed in an amazing mountaintop community called Hararit, and then visited a neighboring community called Yodfat, and in both locations I saw this stunning bush in bloom, and now I have to have some myself. Just now as I was trying to identify the bush I learned that it is called Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens, though I'll have to find out what it is called in hebrew (just as soon as Rosh HaShana is over and we can return to gardening.) Keep on reading for a bit of info I've collected and to see close up photos of the gorgeous silver-ish leaves.
Leucophyllum frutescens is an evergreen shrub in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, native to the state of Texas in the Southwestern United States and the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas in northern Mexico. Although commonly known as Texas sage, it is not a true sage and is distinct from the genus Salvia. The species is also called Texas Ranger, Texas rain sage, cenizo, Texas silverleaf, Texas barometerbush, ash-bush, wild lilac, purple sage, senisa, cenicilla, palo cenizo, or hierba del cenizo.
- The most common cenizos have gray-green leaves with light lavender flowers. But you may also found varieties with a greener leaf and deeper lavender blooms. More rarely, you may even find some with white blooms. Some will also have more and larger flowers than others, giving you a wide palette to choose from.
- Cenizo is extremely drought tough and needs very little water once established. In fact, this shrub does not like ‘wet feet,’ so be very careful if planting in clay soils.
- Cenizo requires full sun to bloom and be healthy, and does not tolerate shady areas.
- There are a multitude of varieties of cenizo to choose from, differing not only in leaf and flower color, but also in height and width. So when choosing this plant, be careful to get a variety that has the characteristics that you want, especially when it comes to size.
- Cenizo does not respond well to heavy pruning, so if it outgrows its space in your landscape, you won’t be able to prune it back and keep it smaller. Overly-pruned cenizos will show lots of die-back, especially in the center of the plant, with only a little growth at the tips. Unfortunately, this shrub is often planted in rows and sheared back to make a hedge. This is not a good practice, and will cause the shrubs to look very ugly, twiggy, and almost dead. Which they will be, since most of the living tissue will have been removed.
Did you read the above bullet points that state about the twigger interior, well here it is folks!
Here the shrub is not pruned and looks amazing, in Yodfat at the edge of a parking lot.
Stunning Yodfat view and that blooming bush, wow!
