Yep, you’re hearing about it. 😉 a scruffy S Leucantha perhaps?

I see this often on hikes and always thought it was Pitcher/Prairie Sage (Salvia azurea).

Maybe I’ve been thinking wrong all these years. 🥴

Jay - No, it was actually in a dry, rocky area there... Most of the wetland area there is actually dry now in the Summer, and is only wet seasonally.

Jinx - Yes, it seems to be along the lines of Salvia azurea or farinacea... Although both usually have much longer flower spikes?

My bad, I should have considered azurea. Flower color is similar to farinacea, but leaves don't match. The leaves on my Salvia azurea are close to this plant. I have another Salvia Azurea with much wider and puckered leaves also, so there is a lot of variation in the foliage. The flower buds on my puckered azurea look different from the OP's plant. Azurea has light blue flowers, but not usually blue and white 2 tone like farinacea. White buds in OP's picture. My plants buds are dark. What's that all about?

I think the whiter color is uncommon. Salvias are such interesting plants to me and they always keep me guessing! :)

https://www.txnativeplants.org/nice/nice-fall-2016-plant-of-the-season/

I thought that sort-of top-knot of buds was unique, so I looked thru' all my Salvia reference books. Check out Salvia coulteri. It's the closest I could find. The flower arrangement and the leaves fit your photos.

I never checked it out earlier but I believe it is Salvia leucantha, the best match.

No, not leucantha; I've grown lots of that and that top-knot of blossoms is wrong.

Kate, Salvia coulteri does look like it could be a match. I've never seen it in person, and all I could find on the internet was 1 photo that wasn't very revealing. Have you grown it yourself? Is it capable of escaping gardens?

On the other hand, there is no record for S. coulteri on bonap, and there are zero observations on I nat for S. coulteri in Texas, but could it grow there? Yes it could.

Also, a couple people said it could be farinacea, and that farinacea has a lot of variation. I don't know.

All the S. farinacea I've ever seen has a spike of bloom. I suppose it's possible that these plants are a cross with anothe Salvia. I probably had S. coulteri at some point; I left my book of photos and the log book for the gardens with the new owners of that property. Here in the city I have only a few Salvias.