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07-06-2003, 08:08 PM

In article ,
oway (Tyra Trevellyn) wrote:

From: (Hillary Israeli)
Date: Fri, Jun 6, 2003 8:33 AM
Message-id:

I have a plain old garden variety (ha ha) sage plant that has taken over

my herb garden. Well, not quite, but it's well on the way and it is only

two years old. Right now, it is about 3.5 feet across (and when I planted

it, it had only one small stem and looked sort of sad!), and in gorgeous

purple-flowered glory. If I cut it back really hard, will it do ok and
just start growing again, since it's still early summer? I would wait til

it was done flowering, of course

but I imagine that will be pretty
soon, right?

thanks,
h.

Wellllllll......not to deflate the balloon and all that metaphor
stuff.....but
Salvia officinalis is known to be a relatively short-lived garden plant, from
everything I've read and from my own experience. Last year I had a
two-year-old plan† that threatened to take over, just as you describe, with a
similar size. Gorgeous (this was the purple variety) and healthy, I kept
taking cuttings for propagation and cooking. So.....this year, it barely
showed up, and is now simply a few twigs with some new growth coming from the
roots. I've leaving it in place, but I've already replaced it with a clone
planted close by, grown from last year's cuttings. You can certainly keep
cutting your sage back but be sure to take cuttings to root for next year's
plants, if this one should fail. (It's quite possible that stimulating new
growth by cutting it back could exhaust the plant to some extent, but I'm
still
thinking that the experts who declare it 'short-lived' must be onto
something.)

Anyway, enjoy it, 'cause a big bushy sage is a wonderful thing to behold.
(You
know, in all my years, I've never had a culinary sage flower for me, here in
the northeast.)

Best,
Tyra
nNJ usa 6b

I live in Seattle, and just yesterday I saw an enormous purple sage
(stems at least an inch and a half in diameter). I've grown sages for
years and usually end up ripping them out due to fungus or bugs or
something. I'm currently growing a tricolor (white, purple, green) that
I planted last year. It flowered profusely last year and is getting
ready to do so again. I don't know what the magic formula is, but if
you have lots of sun, not too much summer moisture and mild winters
(native conditions) they should thrive. Cutting back a big healthy sage
shouldn't kill it. Just don't cut back more than about 1/3 per year.

Angela