Seedhunt.com says:
Salvia columbariae - California, southwest U.S. Chia is a great annual for open ground. Round heads of bright blue flowers on very straight stems. Plants can bloom at 4" or 2', depending on cultural conditions.

Betsy Clebsch says the above plus:
It likes regular water and the basal clump can get to be 2' across with enough. However, 1' is more usual. If it is in arid conditions it is much smaller.
It is drought tolerant and needs good drainage.
It is a native California wild flower.

Salvia columbariae is known as golden chia, and has been used by American Indians of the Southwest as a food source (seeds ground into a flour), a tonic (seeds soaked in water and the gel dissolved in the water which is then decanted and drunk), and as a medicinal. It is vastly superior to the Mexican chias for these uses.

Salvia columbariae and S. carduacea will bolt in hot weather. If you start them inside as seed, let them have as long a cool, sunny period as possible. If left in a small pot, they will go to seed when as little as 2 inches tall.

So ornamentaally, it's not worth speaking of? I'm trying to read between the lines here.
;-)
Rose

Whoops, I hit submit before I saw the extra a - I meant ornamentally.

This is one of the very few USA native Salvias (found also in Northern Mexico) that will thrive in the UK. From seed it will flower within 3 months.
It is really attractive even if the flowers are really tiny, but there are so many of them. Flowering period is very short, and therefore it is really a collector's plant. One plant looks somewhat sad, but a group of them can be quite stunning, if only for a couple of weeks. It dies after flowering, but usually sets lots of seeds. It hates being rained on!

Cheers to all, Robin. (At last it has started to warm up over here!)

If you have Mediterranean conditions, you should be able to grow the individual plants big enough to make material for interesting dried flower arrangements. The globular spikes form little tumbleweeds in the wild.

Now that's more like it, an answer! I don't have meditteranean conditions but I can grow it in a pot that is well drained. I'm happy that it won't be invasive here. I hate invasives! I like the idea of dried flower arrangements with the globular spikes. I'll have to experiment with timing to try to keep the blue color.
Thanks all!

Rose

Hi Rose,

Have you tried germinating S. columbariae yet? Will it germinate without smoke treatment? Just curious. This one has been on my "try out" list too.

Joseph