For daily wit & wisdom, get the Almanac newsletter.

How to Grow Sage: A Flavorful Guide to Planting, Harvesting, and Using This Classic Culinary Herb

Sage is a useful herb that can be easily grown in your garden.

Botanical Name
Salvia officinalis
Grown as
Perennial
USDA Zones
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
9a
9b
10a
10b
Toxicity
Non-toxic
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Water Needs
Moderate
Height
1–3 feet
Spread
1–3 feet
Soil pH
Acidic
Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Flower Color
Pink
Purple
Special Features
Container-Friendly
Cut Flower
Fragrant
Long Blooming
Low Maintenance
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Hummingbirds
Attracts Pollinators
Deer-resistant
Rabbit-resistant
Resilience
Cold Hardy
Drought-Tolerant
Plant Type
Herbs
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

If your kitchen had a signature scent, sage might just be it. This aromatic herb brings cozy comfort to every dish it touches—especially that Thanksgiving stuffing everyone asks you for the recipe to. Luckily, garden sage isn’t just delicious; it’s delightfully easy to grow. 

Whether you’re seasoning your Sunday roast or adding a pop of green to your garden, here’s how to plant, care for, and harvest this time-tested kitchen staple.

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!

Buy Seeds Now

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.

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 2 weeks before the last frost date. (See local frost dates.) Plant the seeds/cuttings in well-draining soil 1 to 2 weeks before the last spring frost.
  • For best growth, the soil should be between 60º and 70ºF.
  • Plants should reach 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

 

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.

Pests and Problems

Types

  • ‘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

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.

Herbs

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

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

Comments

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 06/05/2015 - 12:01

Hi Ashley,

Your cutting is probably dying. Try again. Best time to start a sage cutting is in the middle of the summer before the plant blooms. Cut off a young shoot below the leaf crown. The cutting should have at least three pairs of leaves. Plant the cutting into a pot with mixed soil and compost. Make sure to keep the soil moist. You can also put a cutting into a glass of water to root. It will take about 2 weeks for the roots to develop.

 <span>Patcr</span> Wed, 05/06/2015 - 18:43
My sage plants seem well established. The plants are putting out flowers. Should I remove the flowers?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 05/07/2015 - 10:10

Hi, Pat: Our sagest (sorry) advice on this is No! Leave the blooms on. You can use them in cooking (e.g., float on a soup), plus bees love them! Thanks for asking!

 <span>Don Z</span> Wed, 04/08/2015 - 19:10
Ive just transplanted a sage plant,4" tall. lots of leaves doing well. salvia "berggarten" Is there a preferred method to pinch leaves, or harvest to cause the plant to grow more fully and productively? I live in zone 9b i
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 04/15/2015 - 11:27

Hi, Don: The best thing to do at this stage is just to leave it alone and let it continue to get established. When you do pinch leaves, remember that the plant will normally branch from the bud. For this reason, be sure to always take leaves from all around the plant rather than just the top, lest it become top-heavy from new growth. Obviously you will want to harvest before it flowers, but otherwise you just want to spread out your pinchings to help retain its bushy shape. Thanks for asking!

 <span>Sebastian Westfall</span> Tue, 04/07/2015 - 16:14
I want to start growing some sage. I have the seeds but not the pot. How big/deep should I buy the pot to plant the seeds?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 04/08/2015 - 13:54

Hi, Sebastian,

Sage plants can grow to be 24 to 36 inches high/wide, so space accordingly...when the plants mature. If you plan to transplant them, you can start them in a pot of almost any size. BTW, one source suggests that sage germinates poorly, even with fresh (ready) seeds. If you seed, cover lightly, with 1/8 inch of soil and keep moist until they sprout. (This can take as long as 3 weeks.) Transplant the seedlings two to three weeks before the last frost date.

We hope this helps!

 <span>Brandi</span> Fri, 06/03/2016 - 02:37
Hi, when I started my sage from seeds I first put the seeds in the freezer for 24- 48 hrs, then placed them in the potting mix lightly covered, they sprouted very quickly that way. But do yourself a favor get a bigger pot than I did because mine is very large and needs to be transplanted into a larger pot.
<span>Alexmcg</span> Mon, 03/30/2015 - 01:10
I have a tricolor sage plant that I've grown from a cutting off last year's plant. Right now it's just in a 4-inch pot, and it's been doing pretty well but I'm pretty sure it's ready to be repotted and taken outside pretty soon (it's about 8 inches tall and has a good number of branching stems). What size container do I need? Will I have to go up a size again? Terra cotta or plastic? It seems like repotting it only once would be best, so I want to make sure I get it right the first time. Thanks!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 03/30/2015 - 16:17

It sounds like your plant can go into its main pot at the next transplanting. Put it outdoors after the last expected frost. You might want to harden it off, since this cultivar is a bit sensitive to cold. Introduce it to the outdoors for increasing periods (such as 2 hours, then 3 hours, etc.; in a protected spot, then a less protected spot closer to where it will be, etc.) each day for about a week or so.

 

You can use a deep, 12- or 14-inch-wide pot to give your plant lots of room when it spreads (on average, sage will have a 12-inch-wide spread at maturity). Tricolor isn't as hardy as some sages, so you'll need to bring it indoors in winter. Therefore, consider the weight of the pot as well. Plastic is lighter than terra cotta (be sure, though, that it has a drainage hole in the bottom). Terra cotta, although beautiful, wicks away moisture faster, so you should monitor watering more closely with these pots.

 

A sage plant usually gets woody after a few years, so people often replace it then.