[by Chuck Almdale]

National Public Radio (NPR) recently did a report of the very rare Death Valley Sage (Salvia furneria).

Most of the report focused on the work of botanist Naomi Fraga of the California Botanic Garden. For more than 15 years she has been trying to collect seeds from this plant, which will then be put into a vault for safekeeping, similar to the giant Svalbard (Norway) Global Seed Vault containing the seeds of important crop plants from around the world. She did collect many seeds from many other plants, but so far she’s empty handed with Salvia funeria. In 2026 the desert really bloomed, hope springs eternal, and she trying again.

Read the report, see the photos and listen to the 5-minute interview.
https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2026/04/01/nx-s1-5749446/botanist-search-seeds-rare-death-valley-sage

Other web pages on Salvia funeria: Calscape, CNPS, Wikipedia

Read Naomi Fraga’s bio: https://naomifraga.com/naomi/

The California Botanic Garden where Naomi works, has their own website https://www.calbg.org/, well worth a look for anyone interested in native plants. You can:

• Visit their garden Tue-Sat 8am-7pm (what’s beautiful today)
• Become a member, get free admission to the garden,discounts on purchases, and more
• Volunteer
• Buy native plants
• Learn about the seed bank and buy seeds from over 6,000 California plant species
• Get their very interesting 12-page monthly Oak Notes newsletter
• Take classes & attend events
• Attend Seminar series’
• Donate to help

California Botanic Garden
1500 N. College Ave., Claremont CA 91711
909-625-8767 | info@calbg.org