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How to Grow Sage Plants: The Complete Guide

Sage is a useful herb that can be easily grown in your garden.

Botanical Name
Salvia officinalis
Plant Type
Herb
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Soil pH
Slightly Acidic to Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Flower Color
Pink
Purple
Hardiness Zone
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Special Features
Attracts Butterflies

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Sage

Catherine Boeckmann
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Garden sage is easy to grow—and a wonderful culinary herb! How do you use sage? Flavor meat and bean dishes (including that Thanksgiving stuffing!). Mix into salads! See how to plant, grow, and harvest sage.

About Sage

Sage is a hardy perennial with pretty, grayish-green leaves that are as good in a perennial border as they are in a vegetable garden. It grows spikes of spring flowers in different colors, including purple, blue, white, and pink. According to Rosie Lerner from Perdue, “If left to flower, sage will produce blue blooms that attract butterflies, but this leaves less oil content translating to reduced flavor in the leaves.” See more flowers that attract butterflies!

Note: Not all sage varieties are culinary; the most popular kitchen sage is called Salvia officinalis. The origin of the salvia name speaks to this herb’s age-old medicinal value from the Latin salvus “to save” and salvere, “to heal”. Sage contains antioxidants that help reduce the risk of serious health conditions like cancer. It’s also rich in vitamin K, which aids the body in clotting blood.

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Planting

How to Plant Sage

  • Plant sage in full sun.
  • Sage should be planted in well-draining soil; it won’t tolerate sitting in wet soil.
  • The easiest and best way to start sage is from a small plant. Set the plants 2 feet apart.
  • You can also sow seeds up to two weeks before the last frost date. (See local frost dates.) Plant the seeds/cuttings in well-drained soil 1 to 2 weeks before the last spring frost.
  • For best growth, the soil should be between 60º and 70ºF.
  • Plants should grow to be between 12 and 30 inches in height.
  • In the garden, plant near rosemary, cabbage, and carrots, but keep sage away from cucumbers.

Growing

How to Grow Sage

  • Be sure to water the young plants regularly until they are fully grown so that they don’t dry out. They’ll need a consistent moisture supply until they start growing quickly.
  • Prune the heavier, woody stems every spring.
  • It’s best to replace the plants every few years so they remain productive.
  • You can grow sage from cuttings!

sage plant

 

Varieties
  • ‘Berggarten’, a robust plant with very large silver-gray leaves
  • ’Tricolor’ sage, for a bit of color in the garden (yellow, mauve, and sage green)
  • ‘Icterina’ has green leaves with yellow edges

'Tricolor' sage

Harvesting

How to Harvest Sage

  • Pinch off leaves or snip off small sprigs from the plant.
  • During the first year, harvest lightly to ensure that the plant grows fully.
  • After the first year, be sure to leave a few stalks so that the plant can rejuvenate in the future.
  • If fully established, one plant can be harvested up to three times in one season.
  • Stop harvesting in the fall so the plant can prepare for winter.

How to Store Sage

  • Sage’s flavor is best when fresh, but it can be stored frozen or dried.
  • To dry, hang sprigs in a shady, well-ventilated area and allow them to air dry, waiting until the leaves crumble easily to store in tightly lidded jars.
  • Sage keeps its flavor better if stored in the freezer. Freeze leaves or stalks on a tray, then move the leaves into a zippered bag or container. Some cooks blend the leaves with oil, pack the ground mixture into ice cube trays to freeze, and then transfer the cubes to a container.
Gardening Products

Pests/Diseases

Wit and Wisdom

  • Anyone who has sage planted in their garden is reputed to do well in business.
  • Susan Mahr of the University of Wisconsin–Madison tells us, “Sage is often mentioned as the herb of immortality, domestic virtue, health, and wisdom. Sage was a sacred ceremonial herb of the Romans. It has been cultivated for both culinary and medicinal purposes for many centuries in Europe.”
  • For other greens to use in your cuisine, see the Leafy Greens: Health Benefits page.

Recipes

Ravioli in a Sage and Brown-Butter Sauce
Bagged Roast Turkey With Cornbread, Chestnut, and Sage Stuffing
Sage Butter

Cooking Notes

A great way to incorporate the healing benefits of sage is “Sage Butter.” With two ingredients and five minutes, you have an amazing herbal butter that’s wonderful on sweet potatoes, chicken, tossed vegetables, fried eggs, toast, popcorn, and whatever you wish!

In the video below, herbalist Patty Sanders shows us how to make sage butter—and also talks all about the healing benefits of sage. 

Herbs
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Andy (not verified)

8 years 5 months ago

Great review on sage plant will plant several

I purchased a small white sage plant from a local nursery about 2 months ago. I transplanted it to a large terra cotta pot in my front yard about 2 weeks after I brought it home. The plant seems to be doing well. It has grown several inches since transplant. I noticed though that a few of the older leaves are turning a dark reddish purple. I know some varieties of sage produce some purple leaves. But I didn't think that happened to white sage. Should I remove these or leave them be? There is no yellowing and after looking around the internet for common sage diseases I didn't find anything like what I'm seeing.

Hmm. We found one source that says the leaves may turn purplish in times of severe drought. This is, however, a drought-tolerant plant, which can be killed if watered too much, so be careful if you want to see if a little water helps; water very sparingly — normally this plant can go weeks without water (just relying on rainfall), although newly planted ones need a little more. Has it been cold out at night? Sometimes that might discolor leaves as well. We’re guessing it likely isn’t due to high temperatures, since the plant is adapted to such. Perhaps leave the discolored leaves as is, unless they start to crinkle, dry, or show signs of disease; if they are healthy looking but just purplish, it might be best to let them be, especially as the plant may still be getting used to its new pot.

Judy (not verified)

8 years 9 months ago

What do I do when sage flowers? Should I cut them off? Will flowering have an effect on the flavour when used as a herb?

Our sagest (sorry) advice on this is No! Leave the blooms on. You can use them in cooking (e.g., float on a soup), plus bees love them! Thanks for asking!

Katie (not verified)

8 years 10 months ago

My sage plants have strange black flecks/particles all over them. They do not resemble eggs or bugs and honestly look like flecks of soil. I have been monitoring them and they can't be particles of soil. They appear to be the cause of my sage leaves near the base of the plant turning brown at the tips and quickly dying and falling off. I have tried a dishsoap and water treatment as is they were pests as well as manual removal but they keep coming back. I cannot find anything remotely similar in literature or on the internet. Does anyone know what is causing this and how I can remedy it? Thank you so much!

Chris (not verified)

8 years 8 months ago

I also have the same black flecks on my tricolor sage plant that I bought a month ago. I live near Philadelphia, PA, and bought my sage plant at a nearby farm. They are tiny, hard specks (like dirt) that sit on the leaves and stems. I reviewed 'Southern Blight' and the nematode advice posted, but it is not either of those things. The 'specks' do not seem to be a bug, or even alive in any way; they are the consistency of dried coffee grounds, or black pepper from a pepper shaker, and can be easily brushed off. I brush the flecks off, and then a few days later those specks are all over the plant again, and on the kitchen counter where the plant sits. Just like Katie said, they are like black specks of dirt. At first I thought they might be seeds, but I honestly don't know anything about sage plants, and I'm sure you are probably all laughing hysterically by now. My plant seems to be otherwise healthy.

I noticed black specks on my herbs last summer (2017). Also, however, the same black specks were on the green plastic planters the hers were in. I spit on my finger and rubbed the specks with my finger and was able to wipe them off. I looked around and saw the specks were also on my wooden gate and bird bath. When I brought basil leaves in to eat I was able to rinse the specks off. My thought is they were from something the planes spray into the atmosphere and falls to earth. My apple tree was heavy with apples and in either late August or early September it started dying.. branches just dried up and died. I had apples on some branches just shrivled up. Usually see that little buds after the leaves fall off that get bigger and bust open into leaves in the spring . . . but I don't see any little buds or bumps this spring.

My zucinni squash was doing great. I had one squash left that I thought I'd give another couple days before harvesting but I came out and all the leaves looked as if they had been dusted with white stuff and the squash was slightly shrivled.. then was ykky looking a couple or few days later.