The Henry Duelberg Salvia is a variety of the mealy cup or blue sage and is a perennial native plant of South and Central Texas. It's a Texas Superstar® known for low maintenance, heat, drought, and humidity tolerance. A growing favorite of Texas native plant gardens, plant this gem in the rear of flower beds due to its three-foot height and width. It grows thicker and will flower better in the fall if cut back mid-summer. It is a hardy plant up through Zone 7.
It prefers well-drained soil with full sun and is drought-tolerant once established. Water regularly until set, then once a week through the height of summer if weekly rainfall is less than one inch. The plant is low maintenance, although deadheading spent blooms will help produce more flowers. A general fertilizer in spring and summer will produce more flowers, but this activity is optional if the soil has good fertility. Maintain two inches of mulch. Cut to the ground after the first frost and mulch over for winter. The plant will reseed itself after it is established, and the seedlings can be easily transplanted to other areas in the garden.
Texas horticulturist Greg Grant discovered the Henry Duelberg Salvia in a Central Texas cemetery on Henry Duelberg. Mr. Grant also discovered and named the white-flowered Augusta Duelberg salvia he found nearby on Augusta Duelberg's gravesite. These two salvias make a pretty pairing when grown next to or mixed.
