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Other Names:  Little Leaf Ranger, Texas Ranger, Texas Sage

Description:

A slow growing, smaller variety with fine, gray-green foliage; showy medium purple flowers in summer; a great water conservation plant, good for dry, hot, rocky sites; must have well drained soil; prune lightly to maintain fullness; must have full sun

Ornamental Features

Houdini™ Sage features showy clusters of purple flowers with violet overtones at the ends of the branches from late summer to mid fall. It has attractive grayish green evergreen foliage. The small fuzzy narrow leaves are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter. The smooth gray bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Houdini™ Sage is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Houdini™ Sage is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Houdini™ Sage will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It has a low canopy. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for xeriscaping or the moisture-conserving landscape. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for poor, alkaline soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Houdini™ Sage makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.