Pronounciation: Lou-co-FIL-lum lang-MAN-ee-ay

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 7-24
USDA 7-11

Landscape Use: Accent, informal hedge, filler, xeriscape landscape designs.

Form & Character: Upright and rounded, clean, grey and recessive, tame, informal.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, woody perennial shrub, moderate growth rate to 3- to 8-feet tall with an equal spread.

Foliage/Texture: Small, rounded, glaucous green leaves to 1-inch long, pubescent, elliptic; medium fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Many pale magenta to lavender blue axillary flowers on new wood; fruits are inconspicuous.

Seasonal Color: Flowers freely during the warm season from mid-spring through fall every 4 to 6 weeks.

Temperature: Very heat tolerant, cold hardy to 10^oF.

Light: Full sun required and absolutely no shade as plants will become sparsely open and leggy.

Soil: Like other Texas sages, prefers some alkaline soil, but most importantly, soils MUST BE well drained.

Watering: No water during winter, infrequent supplemental water applied as a deep soak during summer particularly if monsoon rains fail.

Pruning: Lightly prune to shape, best done once a year in early spring, never shear.

Propagation: Seed and cutting (softwood or semi-hardwood).

Disease and Pests: Texas root rot is a problem in late summer (root-zone temperatures above 80^oF) in landscapes on former agricultural lands. Rabbits (those evil creatures of the garden underworld) love to munch on succulent new foliar tissues of most Leucophyllums.

Additional comments: Braue river sage is a great medium-sized shrub for xeric landscapes. It is is similar in appearance to Leucophyllum laevigatum, but can be distinguished by having broader, slightly hairy foliage.

The deep dive: In my opinion, Braue river sage is a superior substitute in Phoenix landscapes for the very common Leucophyllum frutescens var. green cloud. There are many cultivated varieties including 'Brave River', 'Braveheart', 'San Jose', 'Rio Bravo' (flowers best in response to summer monsoon rains), and 'Lynn's' Legacy' (flowers all summer and fall). 'Lynn's Legacy' is a more dense, rounded, slower growing, green leaved, oft lavender blooming (flowers throughout the warm season) cultivar that is named after Texas horticulturist Lynn Lowery (deceased in 1997).

Taxomonic factoid: The species name langmaniae was given in honor of Ida Kaplan Langman, a 20th century American botanist.