Botanic Garden >> Gardening > >> Houseplants >> Plants for Details >> Salvias

Thistle Sage (Salvia carduacea)

Thistle Sage
Carduacea flowers
Carduacea foliage
Carduacea habit

Overview

Salvia carduacea, the Thistle Sage, is a striking annual or biennial native to California and Baja California. It forms a basal rosette of spiny, thistle-like, gray-green leaves. In spring, it sends up tall, branching stems topped with dense, spiny bracts and vivid blue-violet flowers. A true desert wildflower.

Taxonomy

Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Salvia
Species: carduacea
Synonym: Salvia gossypina

Culture

Full sun, extremely well-drained, sandy or gravelly soil. Very drought tolerant. Grows 2–3 feet tall. Best grown from seed sown in fall. Ideal for desert gardens, rock gardens, and wildflower meadows. Not suited for humid climates.

Salvias: Salvia madrensis: Forsythia Sage with Yellow Flowers; Wild Sage (Salvia hians); Bolivian Sage (Salvia exserta); Wagner's Sage (Salvia wagneriana); Rock Sage (Salvia pinguifolia); Salvia namaensis – Rare Namibian Sage from Africa; Salvia yunnanensis (Yunnan Sage); Salvia ringens (Rumanian Sage); Salvia rypara (River Sage); Salvia lemmonii (Lemmon's Sage)

Garden Articles

Salvia patens: Gentian Sage with Intense Blue Flowers

Salvia uliginosa: Bog Sage with Sky-Blue Flowers

Salvia forsskaolii: Indigo Woodland Sage with Violet Spikes

Cedar Sage (Salvia roemeriana)

Hardy Meadow Sage (Salvia nemorosa subsp. pseudosylvestris)

Scarlet Sage (Salvia splendens)

Eyelash-Leaved Sage (Salvia blepharophylla)

Plants

Snowflake Sage (Salvia chionophylla)

Mountain Sage (Salvia regla)

Balm-Scented Sage (Salvia melissodora)

Formosan Woodland Sage (Salvia japonica var. formosana)

Arrow Leaf Sage (Salvia sagittata)

Engelmann's Sage (Salvia engelmannii)

Crimson Sage (Salvia henryi)