PlantFiles: Common Sage, Garden Sage
Salvia officinalis

Sage is easily propagated during the mid-summer. I now have many new shoots that are taking great. Sage is also wonderful in the kitchen, especially stuffing.

I love sage so much, I named my dog after it.

Sage is always welcome in my garden.

I was a bit worried about it over winter, as we had some pretty severe ice storms.
Thankfully, it not only made it through the rough weather,
but is now bounding back, bursting with new foliage.

I'll be planting more sage this year. What a pleasant plant!

Fairly easy to grow from seed. It may do better in full sun but I have had success growing sage in partial shade.

This is one of the first plants I started from seed, as a clueless 13-year-old, which should tell you how easy it is to grow. It's very hardy, drought-tolerant, pest-free and handles crappy soil well. It's also so attractive and easy to blend in as an ornamental. If only it ddn't smell like stinky socks.

This year I'm putting one in next to my apricot-colored rose, so the lovely blue-purple flower spikes (they also make great accents in cut bouquets, especially with white peony) can provide contrast. I've had variegated sage there for 3 years now, but no blooms, so I dug the ingrates out and it's back to common sage for me.

Sage is a wonderful,versitile plant. The blooms are beautiful and attractive to bees and insects. It can be used for flavoring cooked food and cheese.

It grows well in West KY and I wouldn't be without at least one plant.

I grow sage in a pot on my outdoor patio. Have been very successful and fine it dries very well in my dehydrater. The plant last a long time in Florida.

Sage is also used for stopping a wound from bleeding. I had a real bad cut on my arm recently. I had read an article in the newspaper a few days before about putting sage on cuts to stop the bleeding. It really worked and I have almost no noticeable scar.

We are employing this plant as a feature in our yard landscaping. It has done quite well in partial shade and winters over in our North Texas climate (Zone 7-b) without special care. Four inch potted transplants set out last spring have reached a height of approximately two feet with about an eighteen inch spread. They were co-planted with Tuscan Blue Rosemary and Society Garlic.

We have been very pleased with this plant in terms of its appearance and its ease-of-cultivation.

A woody perennial from North Africa and Southern Europe.

Has scented, dull green, downey, slightly wrinkled, ovate leaves. Bears light blue, hooded flowers.

Flowers June-August

Likes a very well drained, poorish soil in full sun.

Sage has a long history as a medicinal and culinary plant. It was used in the treatment of plague (not specified which one, they probably tried it for all of them), epilepsy, cramp, sore throats, palsy, headaches, colds, and lethargy among many others. Oh yes and not forgetting snake bites, come to think of it, what didn't our ancestors use for snake bite?

It was also used as a tonic to improve the brain and thinking.

It is drunk as a tea, eaten as; sage and onion stuffing for meat, sausages, herb butters, cheese and put into various sauces, drinks and soups.

Cosmetically it was used to whiten teeth, hair tonic and bath soak. Its also used as an essential oil for perfumes.

It also has a use in the wildlife garden and is a great nectar plant especially loved by bees.

Warning
If you feel you want to use it medicinally, please take care not to overdose. Too much Sage can bring on cause symptoms much like poisoning. If you do take it and begin to feel ill, get to a doctor and tell him what you have taken and how much.