I grow a rare plant in my Austin garden. A cluster of Big Red Sage, Salvia pentstemonoides, resides at the corner where the street and my driveway intersect.

I first became familiar with this plant years ago, having read an article about a gorgeous, deep-red flowering plant that’s found only in a few counties of Central Texas. At one time, Big Red was thought to be extinct, but colonies of the plant where discovered, seeds collected, and some in the local nursery trade propagated the lovely plant for sale. When when I managed the Green Garden at Zilker Botanical Gardens, a previous gardener had planted several and those played a starring role in the front, full-sun garden, much to my. I’ve purchased several individual plants at two local nurseries over the years and my little cluster has thrived.

Big Red is pollinated by the Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, which hangs out in Texas during late spring and summer, migrating southward in September and October.

Other insects, like various carpenter bees and even honeybees, will visit the blooms, often nectar stealing from the flower, nosing deep into the calyx, puncturing the calyx-held flower for the sweet stuff.

Big Red Sage is a showy thing in the summer garden. Mine grow stalks about 3 feet high, though I’ve read that the stalks in natural areas reach to 5 feet tall.

Since 1975, this rare flower in decline has awaited its turn for protection by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In January of 2025, the Service finally proposed that Big Red Sage be listed as an endangered species. Drought, floods, animal browsing (both native and introduced), and urban development are all adding stress to this rare plant; fewer wild colonies exist compared to when I first learned about the plant years ago. The official protection granted makes illegal the collection of Big Red Sage seeds from wild colonies. Check out this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, the key organization which pressured, through a lawsuit, the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Texas beauty.

I usually prune the stalks to the ground in November, leaving the dark leaves of the winter rosette as a reminder of summer’s glory. Though most stalks have ceased blooming, often there’s at least one hold-out bloomer, which you can see at the top left part of the photo. This plant just doesn’t want to quit!

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is currently researching this plant, spending time collecting seeds in protected areas to learn about its biology, which you can read about here. The team of scientists and volunteers are seed-banking collected seeds from specific colonies to ensure the survival if wild specimens disappear. My understanding is that there are no plans to sell either seeds or the plants germinated from the collected seeds in order to protect the diversity and genetic strength of the remaining native colonies.

I sometimes feel a bit awkward as the guardian of this plant as it’s too precious for a common, urban garden! I purchased the plants that I have, as Big Red is a commercially available in some native plants nurseries. Mine have never germinated to create new plants and I don’t live in a neighborhood with many actual gardens (lawns, lawns, lawns!), so even if my sages produced offspring, it’s likely I could control where the plants grow. Still, as Texas and the wider world becomes less biologically diverse, I’m pleased that I have some of these rare and beautiful plants in my garden, for their looks, their pollinator draw, and for their uniquely Texan heritage.