Growing sage

[Percy]

Hi,

I tried growing some sage but it didn't last very long. What sort of conditions should it have, in terms of sunlight and watering?

[rainbowgardener]

Sage likes full sun, not overly rich soil, not too much water, very well drained. It is a Mediterranean plant, adapted to hot dry summers and poor sandy soil.

You probably loved it to death! I have mine in not even quite full sun, in bad soil, and I do nothing to it (don't fertilize, water, etc) and it does fine. It is in it's 4th or 5th year now and it now has beautiful big buds for flowers coming. They usually say not to let them flower, but the bees love those flowers and they are so pretty....

[Gary350]

Most herbs like desert type conditions. The place where I grow my herbs has lots of lime stone gravel, lots of sand, and some orgainc material. It is full sun and too hot and dry for most grass and weeds to grow but my herbs grow very well.

[Percy]

Thanks, perhaps I'll give it another go this year. How often should it be watered? Should I allow the soil to dry out each time?

[rainbowgardener]

You never really said where you are or what conditions you are growing in, was this in a container or the ground etc. If you are growing it in the ground, and you are in an area that gets some rain, you may not ever need to water it, once established. Otherwise, yes let the soil dry out well between waterings.

[Sage Hermit]

(salvia elegans) Pineapple Sage and (Phlomis fruticosa) Jarusalem Sage as well as a local sage (Salvia divinorum).salvia can grow here with various ranges of watering requirements.
the word sage makes up a group of 3 or 4 plants really you have to be specific on which one like rainbowgardener said. Until now I was calling my jarusalem sage russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

The sage I grow for teas are the first 2 I mentioned. ( caught myself in a typo).

[applestar]

I LOVE Pineapple Sage. I finally wised up and take cuttings in the fall to overwinter instead of buying a plant every spring since it can't survive the winter in my garden unless it's planted in a VERY VERY sheltered spot. One year, it survived (or self seeded) against the foundations of the house on SE side. Regular culinary sage can and does overwinter, although a local herb seller said that they occasionally seem to die off for no apparent reason. She told me Tricolor Sage is iffy for surviving the winter, and it looks like mine didn't make it.