I took a couple pictures this morning. Sun wasn't fully on the garden yet so it's not very bright but this will let you see how the sage is shaped. The first picture shows it in some detail - the tall lavender/white thing on the right. The second photo shows it from a distance so you can see how it fits in the bed. It's actually not as floppsie as I thought. Having it on the edge of the bed (even though it's a little tall for that spot) gives the hummers lots of room to access all the flowers. It's harder to pick out in this photo. It's towards the right, at the front edge of the second round part of the bed. There are black eyed susans under it and white cat's whiskers peaking through behind it.

I planted a couple of Allen Chickering sages next to a parking lot, in front of a hedge of ligustrum, in a semi-watered location in Fountain valley, Ca (Coastal Orange County). By semi-watered, I mean a place where extra water from the sprinklers behind the ligustrum runs out onto the surface, but doesn't result in a thorough watering. I think the soil is slightly moist most of the summer, and moist all winter. The Allen Chickering have grown quite slowly compared to Pozo Blue and Whirley Blue, two other S. clevelandii hybrids (or cultivars?). Allen Chickering is evergreen, and mine have made attractive, if slow growing shrubs that bloomed last summer. Everything about Allen Chickering is a little smaller and slower than Pozo Blue, but that might make it easier to manage in the long run. The flowers are deeper blue and smaller than the other S. clevelandiis.

If that is Salvia leucantha, Mexican bush sage, it does very well in clay soils. It may die back to the soil, but should come back in Spring unless it was exceptionally cold. I prefer the S. leucantha "midnight" which is an all-purple flower stem. I don't know your zone well enough to suggest companions - in CA, poppies, primrose, verbena and other sages look good with it. I have it next in front of Tagetes lemonnii (lemon marigold bush) and the purple and gold look great together.

Thanks, but I don't live in the area. It's not commonly found in my zone (7a midatlantic) because it's not as hardy here, although I've been able to get it to survive in my microclimate. But lost it a season or two ago. I posted here in hopes of finding gardeners who are more likely to have it.