Mediterranean
How to grow sage
Salvia officinalis
Sage is a hardy evergreen sub-shrub for full sun and light, free-draining soil. Plant pot-grown sage in April or May, 45 to 60 cm apart, adding grit on heavy ground. It grows faster and softer than rosemary or thyme, so the key to keeping it productive is pruning: cut it back to new shoots in spring and trim it again after flowering, or it turns leggy and woody within three years. Take cuttings in summer and replace the plant every four or five years.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy if drained
- Position
- Full sun
- Soil
- Free-draining, light
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.0
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting sage
WhenPlant Apr to May; harvest year-round; trim after flowering
Starting off
Plant pot-grown stock Apr to May. Seed sown indoors in Mar at 18 to 21°C germinates in 10 to 21 days but takes a year to make a pickable bush. Semi-ripe cuttings 8 to 10 cm long in Jun to Sep root in 4 to 6 weeks; low stems can be layered in spring. Replace plants every four or five years once woody.
Spacing and planting
Plant 45 to 60 cm apart (eventual spread 60 cm, height 60 cm), setting it at the same depth as in the pot with grit in the backfill. Fine in a 30 cm pot of loam-based compost with added grit.
Varieties worth growing
- Common sage
- Salvia officinalis, grey-green, the hardiest and strongest flavoured. The one for stuffing and for drying.
- Berggarten
- Broad, rounded, silvery leaves on a low, dense plant that rarely flowers, so it stays leafy and compact for longer.
- Purpurascens
- Purple sage: dusky purple young leaves, the same flavour as the common kind, and a good border plant.
- Icterina
- Gold and green variegated leaves with a milder flavour. Lower and slower, good in a pot.
- Tricolor
- Leaves splashed cream, pink and purple. The least hardy of the group, so give it a sheltered spot or a pot by a wall.
Sage month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Pick the odd leaf. Leave the top growth on as frost protection.
- February
Nothing to do. Check pots are draining.
- March
Sow seed indoors at 18 to 21°C. Layer low stems by pegging them down.
- April
Prune: cut each stem back to just above the lowest pair of new shoots, without going into bare wood. Plant.
- May
Plant. Pick freely; the flavour is strongest before flowering. Flower spikes begin to open.
- June
Flowering, heavily visited by bumblebees. Take the first semi-ripe cuttings 8 to 10 cm long.
- July
Trim after flowering, removing the spent spikes and a few centimetres of leafy growth. Dry a batch of leaves.
- August
More cuttings. Stop trimming by the middle of the month.
- September
Last cuttings early in the month. Pot up rooted ones and keep them in a cold frame for winter.
- October
Pick lightly. Move pot-grown variegated sages against a house wall.
- November
Pick lightly. Do not cut the plant back.
- December
Pick the leaves you need for stuffing.
Feeding sage
A light feeder that goes soft, floppy and mild on rich soil. In the ground it normally needs nothing; a pot-grown plant gets one small seaweed top-dress in spring.
Low, lean, dry soil suits it; over-feeding gives soft, floppy growth.
Feeding plan
In the ground, most years
No fertiliser
Nothing. On heavy soil add grit at planting, not feed.
April, in the ground, only where growth was thin and pale last year
50 g/m², the low end of the label range, once: about 15 g scattered over the 0.3 m² that a 60 cm bush covers, after pruning.
April, pots
1 ml per litre of compost, the low end of the label's top-dress rate, once: about 12 ml, a scant tablespoon, for a 30 cm pot holding 12 litres.
May and June, pots, only if the leaves are pale
1 g per litre of water as a drench, twice, three weeks apart.
Signs to watch
Lower leaves yellow and dropping in a wet spell
Waterlogged roots
Improve drainage, no feed
Sparse grey growth on a four-year-old bush
Age, not nutrient
Replace from cuttings
Soft, floppy, mild-flavoured growth
Overfeeding
Stop
Older leaves yellow between green veins in a pot
Magnesium short
Epsom salts
Pests, diseases and problems
Leaves covered in fine pale speckles through summer
Sage leafhopper, a small sap-sucking insect that jumps when disturbed
Tolerate it. The flavour is unaffected, and pruning in spring removes much of the overwintering population.
Shoot tips and leaves eaten, with metallic green and purple striped beetles or grey grubs present from late summer to spring
Rosemary beetle
Tap the plant over a sheet or an upturned umbrella and dispose of what falls. Repeat every week or two from September.
White powder on the leaves in late summer
Powdery mildew, on plants that are crowded or dry at the roots
Pick off the worst leaves, water the plant once thoroughly at the base, and thin neighbouring growth for air. Pruning after flowering keeps the bush open.
Young leaves at the shoot tips torn with small ragged holes
Capsid bugs feeding on the growing tips in early summer
No treatment is needed. Pinch back damaged tips and the plant branches from below.
Branches blacken and die back after a cold, wet winter
Frost on a plant standing in wet soil; variegated forms are the most easily hurt
Leave it until April, then cut back to where new shoots are breaking. Improve the drainage, and grow Tricolor and Icterina in pots or against a warm wall.
Harvest and rotation
Harvest and storage
Pick leaves year-round, with flavour strongest before the May to Jun flowering; take no more than a third of the foliage at once. A mature bush gives 50 to 100 g a week in summer. Sage dries very well: lay leaves on racks in a dark, airy place for 1 to 2 weeks and they keep a year in jars. Leaves also freeze whole in bags.
Rotation and companions
No rotation needed. Keep it away from cucumbers, mint and basil, which need the moisture and richness that rot sage.
Good to knowTrim lightly after flowering and replace woody plants every few years.
Growing sage in pots
Sage grows well in a 30 cm pot of loam-based compost with a fifth to a quarter of grit, in full sun. It is the thirstiest of the Mediterranean herbs in a pot because of its large soft leaves, so water when the top few centimetres are dry in summer, but keep it on the dry side from October to March and raise the pot on feet. Prune in April as you would in the ground. A pot is the safest place for Tricolor and Icterina, which can then spend the winter against a house wall. Repot into fresh compost every second spring.
Sage: common questions
When should I prune sage?
Prune sage in April, once new shoots are showing low on the stems and hard frosts are over. Cut each stem back to just above the lowest pair of new shoots, staying in wood that has leaves or buds. Then trim lightly again in July after flowering. Avoid pruning in autumn, which exposes soft growth to frost.
Why has my sage gone woody and leggy?
Sage turns woody when it is not pruned each spring, and all plants do so with age after four or five years. Bare old wood seldom reshoots, so a hard cut usually kills the branch. Cut back as far as there are live shoots, take 8 to 10 cm cuttings in summer, and replace the old bush with a young one next spring.
Does sage survive winter in the UK?
Yes. Common and purple sage are hardy across the UK in well-drained soil and stay evergreen, so you can pick a few leaves all winter. What they dislike is sitting wet. The variegated forms, Tricolor especially, are less hardy and are better in a pot moved against a sheltered wall.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.