Ideally suited to full sun in a well-drained soil with only occasional irrigation. It is cold hardy into the low teens and perhaps lower with mulching, so useful in USDA Zones 8 and above. This is an attractive and tough drought tolerant plant that draws hummingbirds and butterflies into the garden yet is not that attractive to browsing animals such as deer. While this white flowering cultivar is a little less showy than some other color forms of Salvia greggii or the James hybrids, Salvia x jamensis, that are the result of natural crosses between Salvia greggii and Salvia microphylla, it really is the most durable of these plants.

Salvia greggii is naturally found at elevations from 5000-9000 feet in the mountains and rocky slopes of Mexico and southwest Texas. The name Salvia comes from the name used by Pliny for a plant in the genus and comes from the Latin word 'salvere' meaning "to save" in reference to the long-believed healing properties of several Sage species. The specific epithet honors Josiah Gregg, (1806-1850), an American Naturalist who traveled through Texas in the 1830s, recording the geology, geography, and plants that he saw in his Commerce of the Prairies: 1831-1839 (AKA The Journal of a Santa Fé Trader: 1831-1839), and later joined a botanical expedition to western Mexico and California.

This plant is commonly called White Autumn Sage since it blooms through to first frost but also White Texas Sage, but this can confuse it with Leucophyllum frutescens, which shares this common name. We have grown this great cultivar since 1991 after getting it from Mark Bartholomew's High Mark Nursery in Carpinteria, California in 1989. This plant is the same as the plant sold as Salvia greggii 'Texas Wedding', a plant that traces back to the late Caroll Abbot (1926-1984) of Kerrville, Texas, though the name "Texas Wedding" was actually coined by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in 2006, well after it had been established in the trade under the cultivar name 'Alba', so we are reluctant to change it at this time. Interestingly Kerrville, Texas was also the home of the plantsman W.A. Furman, namesake of great Salvia greggii 'Furman's Red', so this area was a hotbed of Texas Sage! 

The information about Salvia greggii 'Alba' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.