GardenPerennial Herb · zones 4–8 · 13 varieties
Sage
Salvia officinalis
Lamiaceae — the same plant family as english lavender, basil, bee balm, mint and 11 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Sage (Salvia officinalis) is a perennial herb for USDA zones 4–8. It wants full sun and pH 6–8 soil, with about 0.5–1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 75 days from setting out a transplant. Watch for leafhoppers and root rot. Below: its full sourced profile from 11 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is started indoors. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Hardiness zones
- 4–8
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Soil texture
- Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Hardy
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it and the temperature that would kill it. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 1–3 ft
- Mature spread
- 2–3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderateest
- Spacing in row
- 18–30 in
- Between rows
- 24–36 inest
- Planting depth
- 0.25 in
- Container size
- 5 gal
- Support
- Self-supportingest
- Grown from
- Transplant, Direct sow, Cutting, Layering, Division
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Low
- Water per week
- 0.5–1 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Establishmentest
- Feeding
- Low
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 75 days from transplant
- Years to first harvest
- 0–2 yr
- Harvest cues
- Flower buds
Planted again for autumn
- Set plants out by
- early Aug typical · zone 6b
75 days to maturity from setting a plant out — that is what our sources measure for this crop, so this is a date for planting out and not a sowing date, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Edible parts per source: leaf.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
Different parts differ — the edible part is the leaf; the notes below flag other parts or preparations.
PetsNon toxic to dogs, Non toxic to cats, Non toxic to horses
Recorded exactly as the source states it — not medical or veterinary advice. If a person or animal may have eaten a toxic part, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or your vet / the ASPCA line (888-426-4435).
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aurea | Variegated | Mounding | 75 | Yellow | Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder describes this asgrown to look at · grown for cooking · strongly scented |
| Berggarten | Culinary | 75 | Mountain Valley Growers describes this asgrown for cooking · strongly scented · grown to look at | ||
| Clary | Specialty | Upright | 75 | White, Red, Purple | NC State Extension (North Carolina State University) records this asstrongly scented · grown for cooking |
| Common | Culinary | Spreading | 75 | NC State Extension (North Carolina State University) records this asgrown for cooking · strongly scented · draws bees and butterflies | |
| Compacta | Culinary | Mounding | 75 | Mountain Valley Growers describes this asgrown for cooking · smaller than most · small enough for a pot | |
| Extrakta | Culinary | Spreading | 75 | Grand Prismatic Seed describes this asgrown for cooking · strongly scented · gets by on less water | |
| Holt's Mammoth | Culinary | Mounding | 75 | Backyard Gardener describes this asgrown for cooking | |
| Icterina | Variegated | Spreading | 75 | Yellow | Mountain Valley Growers describes this asgrown for cooking · grown to look at · strongly scented |
| Newe Ya'ar | Culinary | Spreading | 75 | Purple | Plant Delights Nursery describes this asgrown for cooking · happy in a pot |
| Pineapple | Specialty | Upright | 75 | Red | NC State Extension (North Carolina State University) records this asthe flowers are edible · strongly scented |
| Purpurascens | Variegated | Mounding | 75 | Purple | Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder describes this asgrown to look at · grown for cooking · draws bees and butterflies |
| Tricolor | Variegated | 75 | Green, White, Red | Mountain Valley Growers describes this asgrown to look at · grown for cooking | |
| White | Specialty | Mounding | 75 | White | Calscape (California Native Plant Society) describes this asgets by on less water · draws bees and butterflies |
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
- Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC
- Johnny's Selected Seeds
- NC State Extension (North Carolina State University)
- Penn State Extension
- University of Illinois Extension
- University of Maryland Extension
- University of Missouri Extension
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 16 of the 21 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
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