You can tell the difference from S. clevelandii and S. leucophylla by their scents. Your sage is one of these two; I'm leaning towards S. leucophylla. It would also help to know where these plants are, since clevelandii is more restricted in distribution. I don't know what S. mohavensis looks like, so I can't eliminate that.

They are in a place called The El Capitan Open Space Reserve which is northeast of San Diego, CA by around 18 miles or so. I must confess that I've never smelled a leucophylla before but the smell did remind me of clevelandii so that's why that ID popped into my head first.

Sorry, I'm just seeing this now. Those are Salvia clevelandii in your pix. I've seen an odd-ball S. leucophylla catalogued for the Tierra Santa area of San Diego, but I don't know any other naturally-occurring S. leucophylla in San Diego Co. If S. leucophylla actually occurs in S.D. Co., they are rare. The El Capitan Res. area would be an appropriate and expected place for S. clevelandii.

Thanks. I'm hoping to go back and get some pics of them in bloom.

Hope for some good rain this winter. S. clevelandii flowers in May -- much later than S. mellifera. In a good year, a hillside of them can be spectacular. It's my favorite Salvia.

My favorite too. I would love to go back and see just how big the stand is when they are in bloom. The S. mellifera around here are already blooming.

In the Temecula area S. mellifera usually begins to flower in February. We had S. "Dara's Choice" in our yard when we lived in Temecula, and that was the first to flower, in mid-January.

Our elevation was about 1140 ft. at our old home in Temecula. If you're lower, in S.D. or O.C., then the salvias will probably flower sooner. "Dara's Choice" grew fabulously on my native plant slope. The slope faced the wrong way (west and northwest) for the things I really wanted to grow, but "Dara's Choice" grew well in shade/sun situations. It was also the easiest of the Calif. native salvias to grow from cuttings. I had moderate success with S. clevelandii and S. apiana (which was easier from seed). We also had a couple of S. spathacea, which is not native to the Temecula area. One grew under a tree in front of the house. It got winter sun when the tree was leafless in winter, and it got shade during summer when the tree was leafed out. Alas, when I drove by my old house recently, the S. spathacea in front had been removed.