Sage Seeds

Common sage is a kitchen staple that doubles as a handsome evergreen shrub, with soft, velvety grey-green leaves all year round. Spikes of violet-blue flowers appear in early summer and are popular with bumblebees. The leaves have a warm, savoury flavour for stuffing, pork, squash, beans and brown butter sauces, and crisp beautifully when fried. Salvia officinalis is hardy and drought tolerant, suiting a sunny herb bed, a gravel garden or a large pot by the kitchen door.

Sowing and growing

• Sow indoors March to May at 15 to 20°C
• Plant out after the last frosts, or sow outdoors in a seedbed in May
• Sow about 0.5 to 1 cm deep
• Germination takes 10 to 21 days
• Full sun in light, well-drained soil; it dislikes winter wet
• Grows to about 60 cm tall and 40 cm wide
• Pick lightly in the first summer; flowers in early summer from the second year
• Hardy evergreen perennial; trim lightly after flowering and replace woody plants every four or five years

What you receive: a packet of about 150 seeds from Piccolo Seeds, with growing instructions on the back.

Grow a full herb bed from our seed range, and start seedlings with our propagation supplies.