Order Your Almanac Today!

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
Print Friendly and PDF
No content available.

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.

Read Next

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
 

More Like This
No content available.

Comments

Mariah (not verified)

6 years 8 months ago

I live in Florida, where lately it's been in the mid nineties and I brought my Sage inside to put it in a super sunny windowsill. However, it was doing well, so i decided to harvest it and cut it way back when I brought it in. Since then it hasn't grown back, I keep it watered and it stays in sunlight almost all day. Did I cut it too far back or does it have something to do with the temperature of the house? The average temperature of the house is in the mid 70s Fahrenheit. Which I know is still warm, but better than the 90s of outside.

One of God's (not verified)

6 years 7 months ago

Don't know, but have had houseplants just sit through winter, then start again as spring developed. No change on my part, just spring light.

Betty hughes (not verified)

6 years 11 months ago

I started common sage in pot last summer did beautiful, left in yard over winter and now my plant is blooming. should I cut blooms or just leave alone? It has double in height this spring but total height is only about foot right now

The Editors

6 years 11 months ago

You can leave the flowers on the plant; they do not affect the flavor of the leaves. In fact, the flowers are edible as well! They look great on top of a cake when paired with other edible flowers, such as nasturtiums, pansies, and marigolds.

Lina (not verified)

7 years 6 months ago

How long before I see blooms?

If you’re growing sage from seed, it will not reach maturity for at least two years. This is why cuttings are generally preferred. You could harvest your first year but it will be small. After its second growing season, sage should be trimmed back in the spring to avoid the center of the plant becoming semi- woody.

Maryann Kent (not verified)

7 years 9 months ago

What gets can I grow with sage

Leaves where nice and green then all the sudden something was eating the leaves and it started turning brown and I water the same way I was in the beginning

Tecorle (not verified)

8 years 5 months ago

I somewhat neglected my spice plants this summer and it is only my second season growing them so I still have many questions. The most important one right now is, can I use the fallen sage leaves? They are clean, but gray. They fell in the pot I have the plant in on my deck. Crushed, the leaves smell great. I am hesitant to store or cook with them until I get some advice. Thanks.

Tough call. Only you know how clean the leaves are—The color sounds normal. Unless they appear moldly or the like, they are probably fine.

If you hesitate to cook with them, crush them to add fragrance to a room. Pick others and dry them yourself for use in cooking.