All the salvia in our back yard is blooming like crazy: white, blue, red — and red&white ‘Hot Lips’ shown in the photo.

‘Hot Lips’ tickles me. The nurseryman at Lakewood Nursery says that its a customer favorite.

Salvia is a native to Southern California, and attracts bugs and birds. Hummingbirds and gnatcatchers hang out in our back yard once the salvia bloom, cheap entertainment through our bedroom window.

With almost normal rainfall, the salvia in our backyard exploded with flowers for returning hummingbirds. No butterflies or bees yet.

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We have several different types of sage (salvia) in our backyard, but none is jauntier than the ‘Hot Lips’s variety.

It just makes me smile.

Last month one of our dog ripped apart our Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha) while hunting a lizard.

The dog caught the lizard. (Eww)

We didn’t know whether the Mexican sage would survive.

On the left are dead branches from its run-in with our dog. On the right is new growth, a bright purple flag saying, “I’m not dead yet!”

Huzzah!

The photo below clearly illustrates the difference between a dog-friendly garden and a dog-proof garden.

The object of our dog’s systematic destruction was a splended example of a Mexican sage, Salvia leucantha. Planted against an east-facing wall, it grew abundantly and bloomed profusely.

Until yesterday, when our pound puppy cornered a lizard inside it.

According to slack-jawed witnesses (my kids), the dog carefully studied the problem. Then he systematically ripped out sections of the plant looking for the lizard.

We assume he caught the lizard.

The sage will likely recover, if another lizard is not foolish enough to seek sanctuary.

Short of fencing, I don’t see what selection of plants we could choose that might resist such a determined attack without injuring the dogs. (Cactus, for instance.)

So we settle for dog-friendly.