Santa Barbara is a compact form of Mexican bush sage, growing 2 to 3 feet tall and wide with soft gray-green leaves and velvety violet flower spikes. The show starts in late summer and builds through fall, just as much of the garden is winding down, and hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies work the blooms steadily.

Give it full sun and well-drained soil; once settled it handles drought and deer with ease. In Birmingham it behaves as a root-hardy perennial — mulch the crown after frost and cut the old stems back in early spring as new growth appears.