Santa Barbara is a compact Mexican bush sage, holding to about 3 feet, with arching gray-green foliage and long, velvety spikes of lilac-purple bloom from late summer until frost. The fuzzy flowers feel like chenille and arrive right when hummingbirds are fueling up for migration.

Give it full sun and well-drained soil; drought, deer, and even salt roll off it. In Birmingham it often overwinters if mulched and left standing until spring, then cut to the ground. Even where it behaves as an annual, two solid months of late color earn its spot.