Maybe it is the wetness combined with the barely coolness. What kind of soil are they in . when cool weather hits the soil does not dry out as quickly after a rain.

That's definitely a possibility because they're in clay soil that hasn't been amended but I planted them a little raised compared to the surrounding soil. They were so pretty and healthy in Summer and now both plants look horrible and bare.

Some varieties of TX sage are more sensitive to slow draining soil than others.

Thanks Wantonamara. Is there anything I can do to about the poor drainage? The sage plants have been in the same spot since 2011 or 2012?

one can amend the soil with something like LOTS of expanded shale and greensand and gypsum and . I do not work with clay so that is hearsay. I would find someone in the neighborhood that is having success and ask them.

There's a fees store here that sells expanded shale and greensand but the the expanded shale is a bit expensive. The greensand is $7.50 for a 40 lb bag I think? I used to get some for my banana plants. My mom's friend has two Texas sage and her's look a little healthier than mine. She has clay soil too but she also has lots of rocks in her soil. She just lives a few minutes north of me.

You might try a place like Whitesley if you are around Austin, otherwise look into places that do BULK landscape supplies. One can mix in some rock and sand and compost and mound it up. I have grown them on 50/50 granite sand and compost soil mix mounded over hillcountry red death clay.

I wish I lived near Austin. I'm just north of Dallas. Rock and sand definitely sounds like a great alternative.

Living Earth is a large 'soil's distributor here in the DFW area, although I seem to see many others near the freeway. Wonder if the deluge of rain around Thanksgiving just caused it to sit in water? If they've been planted there for that length of time with no issues and suddenly dropped leaves, I bet it was weather related. Any sign of new foliage growth yet?

Pkponder, so far I don't see any signs of new foliage. I'm just hoping they fill in next Spring? The feed store I go to sells a lot of Living Earth soil and I think they have a distribution center behind the feed store because I always see and smell a giant mound of compost. I think I've seen sand or gravel too? Thanks for telling me about adding large amounts of sand. I've always been leery of adding sand because I heard that it turns the soil into cement but I didn't know you could add a large amount to counteract that? I planted a new agave and someone on a garden group said to put it in a mound of sand and gravel so I did that. I wish I could have done that to my Texas sage bushes. Mara I have a big blue tote that I used to use for some cuttings that's empty now so I could use it to haul some materials.

It is about ratios. One needs to have 1 part native soil, one part pea gravel and one part sand or a sharpe coarse sand . so one has to add a fair amount of sand to get PAST the cement danger. I have a friend who has gone way beyond 75% with the amendments to her OKC gumbo soil and has a great xeric garden. I think she has mounds 8" deep and more onto of her soil. One can also add compost to this mix. also. Most people amend clay with compost compost and more compost. That is good for most "normal plants" but xeric often need a leaner sharper mix to get that drainage..It is still important to ask around your neighborhood to see what works there.

I may try that mix if I create more flowerbeds with xeric plants. I think a friend from Garland told me to forget about compost and to add things like sand because in our climate, organic amendments break down incredibly fast. I'm switching to more drought tolerant, native plants in my garden with the exception of my banana plants and my houseplants that I bring outdoors in Spring. Not many people in my neighborhood landscape or have gardens. The ones that do, just add Miracle Gro to the soil and plant annuals.

I've never heard a gardener say not to add compost!

It was definitely strange especially since he added horse manure to his flowerbeds. I guess he meant I shouldn't waste time on compost until I add sand and other inorganic material first?

My two Texas Sage (Ft Worth area, clay soil, 11 yrs old) have done this many times. They always fill in during the Spring (and have tons of new shoots coming up from the base).

Example after leaf loss, you can see the base shoots:

Wow, nice blooms MizGG

Wow your Texas sages are so pretty! I really hope mine fill in next Spring?

In Houton house, I have never been successful growing tx sage, any a variety, and despite amendments. In the E TX house, which has sandy soil, I have some nice plants that get no care. I think that when it comes to TX sage, an easy drain soil is much more imp that a "nutritious" soil. Once defoliated, my sages went on a downward spiral, sorry I can't be more encouraging. Rains have def. had an impact on sages around my area.

It's great to get information from various regions. We've had a dry stretch of weather the past week but there's a slight chance today and a better chance Saturday.

Up here in OKC mine are doing the same with the leaf drop, I noticed this about a month ago and walked over to take a close look. Its way less than half of the leaves dropping but they just don't look right or as full & robust as usual. We haven't had a hard freeze yet so its something else, right now they look like they did a month ago. I blamed the unusually heavy spring flooding rains, perhaps a delayed reaction due to feeder root damage although I don't see any actual dying back of branches.

I didn't have the dramatic blooms this year either. I got some blooming but nothing like what is typical when blooms smother the entire plant. I figured they are a bit mixed up or putting energy into root repair. Just guessing.

I get lots of seedlings from mine, obviously they germinate easily in sand with gravel on top. I've started a few more plants.

I've heard over and over about sand turning soil to cement. Not so in my case, just the opposite. The clay loam used to crack and get very hard on top every summer making it impossible to soak the soil in summer because I am on a slope and I was always adding organic matter to it. Once I brought in the piles of coarse sand I don't get cracks anymore. The only time I had a problem was after that heavy rain this spring when the soil was washing downhill and covering my gravel. After it dried out the top layer was like caliche or something with the gravel buried under it. It was as if the finest particles had floated up and dried into a hard impenetrable crust. Now things seem to be back to normal but there were spots I had to hack at to break up and expose the gravel. I had thought at the time the nay-sayers of turning soil into concrete were right after all but now I'm back to being glad for the sand. It made all the difference in my case.

The worst thing about sand is every cat in the neighborhood will think your yard is a big public kitty litter box.

Mine had one good flush of blooms, thrn I'd find a sporadic blooms throughout the year. I found about 10 blooms on both plants right now. I've never seen seedlings under mine but maybe because it's a certain hybrid? I had a very difficult time digging a couple of inches of soil for my irises this Summer. I've never had that happen before. I have a few shallow pockets of sandy loam but most of my yard is clay or silty clay. I forgot about a soil amendment I added before planting my Texas sages. It was a cheap potting soil that was mostly peat and sand, I also added a little Black Kow topsoil to the mix but it's still mostly clay soil.