From your descrition it sounds as if this is a salvia that is sold as Candelabra Sage. It has sticky inflorescences and multilobed grayish green leaves.

I suspect this to be a hybrid, between two of the species listed below, as the ones I have never produce seed even after being hand pollinated or visitied by hummingbirds.

DO NOT confuse this with Salvia candelabrum. These are two distinct plants.

S. interrupta leaves are multilobed and apple green, It grows, for me, to about two feet tall when in flower. The flowers start out purple then turn blue. The flowers are held above the foliage.

S. candelabrum has mostly single lobed gray green leaves. The flowers are bicolored with a whitish corolla and purple lips. The flower face upwards. The inflorescence can grow to 4' tall.

S. ringens has grayish green multilobed leaves. The inflorescence can grow to 5' over the foliage. The flowers are large and light purple.
S. recognita has multilobed gray green leaves. It has a pink flower.

SG

Thanks for your help SG!
You are propably right since I've never seen seeds produced on this as well. Also the bigger size of the plant and flowers can be explained by the hybrid origin.
The plants in UCD have this traits too:
Very sticky inflorescences similar to those of S.recognita.
Very tall inflorescences as you describe in S.ringens.
Maybe it is a hybrid between those two.
Thanks for your help.

I suspect it is a hybrid between S. ringens and S. candelabrum.

SG