Sage

Sage, Salvia officinalis, is one of the most popular herbs in North America and Europe. Long regarded as a tonic for mind and body, its name comes from the Latin word “slavere”, which mean “to be in good health.” A shrubby perennial, growing 1 to 3 feet tall, it is hardy to zone 4. In colder climates it is grown as an annual. Its soft leaves are silver, purple or variegated. Purple, lavender or white flowers bloom from early to mid-summer. Like many strongly scented herbs, sage is in the mint family, Lamiaceae. There are around 500 species, most native to semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean, Africa and the Americas. [edit] Sage Growing Conditions The plant does well in range of soils, providing they have excellent drainage. It prefers a slightly alkaline soil pH. Plant in full sun. [edit] Cultivation Plant in spring, spacing plants 12 to 18 inches apart. Prune back by 1/3 in midsummer. In late fall, cover with a layer of mulch such as dry leaves. Prune to shape in spring, removing dead or untidy growth. Sage can be grown from cuttings or from seeds started indoors. Plants can also be divided in early spring. The herb is rarely troubled by pests or diseases. When grown as a houseplant it can be susceptible to spider mites. To treat, wash infected plants regularly with tepid water. [edit] Sage Uses The leaves can be used in cooking either fresh or dried. It is often a flavoring for sausage, stuffing, pasta and vegetable dishes, and is especially good with beans. To grown the best leaves for cooking, harvest the new growth of silver leafed plants often and remove flower stalks as they appear. To dry, clip stalks from the top 1/3 of the plant in spring before flowering begins. Hang upside down in a well-ventilated area until dry or lay out on a baking sheet and place in a warm oven for several hours. The flowers are edible as well. Use them as a garnish, in salad or tempura. Bees love the blossoms and make a delicious honey from their nectar. Medicinal uses include treatment of colds, coughs, anxiety and disorders of the stomach and digestive tract. A few different colors are an attractive addition to an herb garden or container planting. One very ornamental variety is tri-color sage, with purple, green and white patterned leaves. The plant is also nice in gravel gardens and xeriscapes (dry gardens), where it pairs well with ornamental grasses, and plants with purple or silver foliage such as wormwood, Artemisa, and lamb's ears, Stachys.

General Information Scientific name – Salvia officinalis Common name – Culinary, Common sage Planting time - spring Bloom time - summer Habitat – Mediterranean climates Uses – Herb garden, containers, Medicinal, Culinary Scientific Classification Kingdom - Plantae Division - Magnoliophyta Class - Magnoliopsida Order - Lamiales Family -Lamiaceae Genus - Salvia Species - officinalis Description Height – 1 to 3 feet Spread – 1 to 2 feet Habit – Upright to round Texture - Medium Growth rate - Moderate Leaf – Silver, purple or variagated Flower – Purple to white Seed - Small, black Cultivation Light Requirement –Full sun Soil - Adaptable, well-drained Drought Tolerance - High

Sage Pictures

Salazaria mexicana Bladdersage

Salazaria mexicana Bladdersage

Salvia dorrii Desert Sage

Salvia dorrii Desert Sage

Salvia dorrii Desert Sage

Salvia pachyphylla Rose Sage

Related Flowers

Salvia Azurea

Salvia Azurea - A perennial from North America, and one of the finest in its flowers, borne as dense spikes of a beautiful pale blue, during September and October. Its habit is vigorous, with stems long and straight, and it flowers rather too late to be always good with us. There are several forms of this plant, drawn from different parts of its area, including grandiflora (syn., S. Pitcheri), with down-covered leaves and stems and denser spikes, and angustifolia, with narrow leaves and longer spikes of flower. Though often flowered under glass, these plants thrive in the open border in mild districts, and are very useful for cutting.

Salvia Coccinea

Salvia Coccinea - This graceful plant covers a wide area in America, and though small the flowers are bright and well displayed. It is excellent for borders, and a true perennial, though often treated as an annual. The habit and leaves are neat, with bright scarlet flowers in airy spikes of 12 to 18 inches, prettily set on dark hairy stems, lasting for many weeks and good for cutting.

Salvia Grahami

Salvia Grahami - This good old kind forms a handsome bush, bearing small bright crimson flowers in light heads during summer. The stems being woody, they last well when cut, and are pretty in vases. It is hardy in the milder parts of Britain, but needs a good place against a wall if it is to flower well. There are varieties with white flowers, and shades inclining to scarlet and purple.

Rosemary-scented Sage

Rosemary-scented Sage (Salvia Greggi) - One of the hardiest of the shrubby Salvias, coming from the mountains of Texas. It grows about 3 feet high, with small bluntly-rounded leaves and spikes of crimson and purple flowers 3 to 6 inches long at the end of drooping branchlets. The plant is hardy in light soils with root protection, and resists drought, blooming through a long season. Seedlings are easily raised, and flower the first season, or a reserve of rooted cuttings may be wintered under glass.

Salvia Hians

Salvia Hians - A hardy perennial from Cashmere, growing 18 inches high, with large hairy leaves like the Clary, and fine violet-blue flowers with a pure white lower lip, and carried in bunches of six together. Free in growth and flower, it is one of the best border Salvias.

Bluebeard

Bluebeard (Salvia Horminum) - A useful annual kind from the south of Europe, of dwarf spreading habit, with oval or wedgeshaped leaves and showy clusters of colored bracts around inconspicuous blue flowers. These showy clusters are produced on every shoot and last fresh for a long time, their color carrying from white to reddish-violet and deep purple, according to the variety.

Salvia Patens

Salvia Patens - One of the best plants in cultivation, the intense blue of its flowers making it a charming object. Though tender in most gardens, the tuberous roots are easily wintered in a frost-proof place, and increase is easy from seed or cuttings rooted in early spring.

Wild Sage

Wild Sage (Salvia Pratensis) - One of our prettiest native plants, and withal so uncommon as to be worth a place in gardens, its graceful stems of about 2 feet high bearing showy flowers of rich purple, white, rose, blue, or reddish-purple, according to the variety.

Salvia Przewalskii

Salvia Przewalskii - A new hardy kind from China and Central Asia, growing as a stout perennial with conspicuous bluish-violet flowers of a pretty pale shade coming in June. Its earliness, resistance, and vigour make it a useful border plant.

Salvia Ringens

Salvia Ringens - A low shrubby kind, with handsome Sage-like leaves and large flowers of lavender-blue and white. The plant will bear a mild winter in the south of Britain.

Salvia Roemeriana

Salvia Roemeriana - A bright dwarf plant from Texas, of such neat growth as to be well fitted for edgings or the front of borders. It flowers early, and the deep crimson flowers are continued through several weeks. Increase by seed or cuttings, which should be wintered under glass.

Clary

Clary (Salvia Sclarea) - One of the old plants long grown in British gardens, and still valued in country districts for brewing herb-wine. It is a biennial from the south of Europe, with clammy hairy stems, ample heart-shaped leaves, and bluish-white flowers in August. A strong form of this, known as bracteata (gigantea), bears pale mauve-colored bracts; and S. Forskohlei, which comes very near Sclarea, shows a blending of violet, blue, and white.

Salvia Splendens

Salvia Splendens - This is the most showy of the family, in its clear green foliage and glowing scarlet flowers. A native of Brazil, it needs care in winter; if in too low a temperature the roots perish, and if too warm the plants become weak and liable to red spider. The old plan was to take cuttings in autumn and winter them under glass, these plants flowering earlier than the more vigorous seedlings. From careful selection, however, there are now good early-flowering varieties which come fairly true from seed, and (except it be for a small stock of the best named kinds) this is the best means of increase. These forms are vastly superior to the original plant, which, besides being of ungainly habit, had few and small flowers.

Salvia Taraxacifolia

Salvia Taraxacifolia - Rare and pretty shrubby plant from the north of Africa, with its lower leaves like those of a Dandelion, and pale pink or purple flowers with a yellow lip, gathered in whorls of six to ten together. It needs light soil and a sunny place in the rock garden, but is of doubtful hardiness even under the best conditions, and plants should always be held in reserve.

Salvia Turkestanica

Salvia Turkestanica - Hardy perennial kind from W. Asia, with angular stems 3 feet high, ample foliage which is strongly fragrant, and large white flowers gathered in whorls and surrounded by pale pink-edged bracts. The plant is hardy and vigorous.

Salvia Verbenacea

Salvia Verbenacea - A pretty native plant about 18 inches high, with oblong wrinkled leaves and blue or whitish flowers gathered in sixes upon its numerous spikes. It is coarse for the border, but interesting in the wild garden.

Salvia Virgata

Salvia Virgata - A good kind, where its abundant blue flowers and violet bracts give good effect in July and August. The plant is of medium size, hardy, and easily increased by seed or division.

Related Flowers

Common Sage

Common Sage (Salvia Officinalis) - Apart from its value as a garden herb, this is good as a border plant when covered with its flowers, either purple, blue, or white. There are several garden varieties with beauty of leaf, such as aurea with golden leaves, crispa (in which they are finely curled), and others in variegated colors—green and white, green and gold, and tricolor with blending shades of grey-green, gold, and rosy-purple. The form salicifolia from Spain has long and narrow whitish leaves, and is strongly aromatic.

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