I have 8 3-gal TX Sage planted in these 2x2x6 planters, faux concrete (stucco over foam). First pair photo are doing fine, 11am-3pm sun. Blooms periodically. 2nd photo were old ones I pulled out to replace because they were so straggly. Now they're in shade, almost full shade, and seem fine. 3rd & 4th photos are rough, they get sun 11-dusk. I water them twice a week, roughly 5 gallons per pot. Pots drain. I planted with 13-13-13 and given them all superthrive. These are very hardy, why they're used extensively in commercial landscaping. In Houston area. Help n thanks.

thanks Ker, I wouldn't disagree. but I hadn't started the watering/vitamin protocol until they were very stressed. I know these guys are hardy, but pots are different. thanks again, I'll try pulling back watering.

I don't think those are really designed to be planted in pots. They have a pretty big root system and can't grow with limited space like that.

ehh, nurseries grow in pots, no?

We trimmed the tops and it caused the plant to put out a ton of lower new growth.

chick79 said:

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I don't think those are really designed to be planted in pots. They have a pretty big root system and can't grow with limited space like that.

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I thought about mentioning this as they can be grown in pots although I've never made an attempt. Also, I would limit the planting to 1 per container. Another option might be rosemary. I have been successful growing those in pots. The infinite supply of fresh rosemary is nice to have around for cooking.

We have one that is in ground and never gets watered and sun just about dusk to dawn and it looks fantastic. So maybe it is watering too much unless as you say, you hadn't really started that. It could be the heat generated from the planter box and bouncing off the very reflective brick wall. That's a lot of concrete/brick surrounding the plant during the hottest part of the day. The first photo seems to get a reprieve from the heat earlier than the last two photos?

Some of the prettiest sage I've seen were off I-10 outside of Fort Stockton last year in July on our way to Balmorehea.
They had no where near the care you're providing.

I had a sage that we had in a pot for about 4 years and it maybe bloomed once a year with a few flowers. We watered it occasionally and scraped through those years. I seriously thought it died a few times.

We moved to our current place 4 years ago and put it int the ground and it quadrupled in size and it's bloomed maybe 5-6 times this year, solid flowers each time. We do nothing to it now. I haven't watered it or fed it in 3 years.

I don't think they like pots or care.

High sodium county water have taken a toll, esp. with Feb freeze, then 2 drought summers with no rainwater in collectors and very limited R.O. water.
Apache - good advice, as always
Drip system comes to mind to get started? IDK

Don't know. I can't keep the stuff from coming up all over the place on my property. I don't do anything to take care of it. Leander is the location.

Many bushes in our front yard already turned brown this past month after all the heat stress. They were those regular builder grade boxy shrubs, and I've already been wanting to replace them with native plants including Texas sage. I'm getting them removed next week. Would it make sense to plant the sage now, or should I wait till spring?

Now is the absolute best time to plant

Thanks! I wasn't sure because it's supposed to be a hard winter.

I don't like 13-13-13 in planter boxes/pots. It, and similar fertiliizers, can darn sure give you salt issues in those situations.

In my very early days, I had the bright idea that I wanted to get a couple of these natives and bring them back to my new yard. I was out towards Del Rio and found a nice batch along the road so I pop out to dig a couple of them up. It only took about 10 minutes for me to realize I didn't have enough caliche and rock in my yard for them to thrive and the tiny amount of progress I made trying to expose any root ball indicated a back hoe would have been a much better tool than the sharpshooter I had. Sage 1, me 0.

Our first home had one in the beds along the back fence. After finding out the hard way we had poison ivy in all of the shrubbery I made it my mission to remove many of the plants and bushes along the fence. It was at one time one of the model homes so they'd gone nuts with landscaping.

I'm not sure that living with poison ivy was worse than getting that damned TX sage out of the ground.