SAGE - The Great Healing Plant Your Doctor Will Never Tell You About!

Leslie Carl

Though it’s easy to cultivate and a terrific flavor enhancer, it’ll be the rare doctor indeed who’ll advocate this as a way to boost your brainpower, control your blood sugar, calm acne or suppress inflammation. But this holiday favorite does all that and more.

Learn about it’s healing properties and how to grow it yourself, in this article.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/02/16/growing-sage.aspx

Torey

Thanks for posting @Leslie Carl ! The article says hardy to zone 5 but I am zone 4 at best and sage survives as a perennial in my garden. Just the common varieties, though; none of the coloured/variegated sages or fruit sages will survive the winters. Maybe if I covered them but not a priority for me. Not sure about the info on difficulty of growing from seed as I have never had a problem. Usually all my seeds germinate when started inside. Once, I even had volunteers come up in the garden next to one that had gone to seed in the previous year. The advice on making sure to allow enough space for growing plants should be heeded. I have had my sages grow to over 3 feet and more that that big around. They can be stunningly beautiful when blooming so they work in a flower garden as well as a vegetable or herb garden.

Linda Bittle

One of my sage plants has come back for 2 years, and I'm hoping to see it in the spring! Sage is great for sore throats and I like to use it when I have a cold.

merlin44

Love sage, thanks for posting @Leslie Carl . I have had difficulty with germination, seems more often with white sage than garden sage, maybe old seeds.

Leslie Carl

@torey I haven't had any problems starting from seed either. I have started 20 sage plants in all from seed. 10 in 2018 and 10 in 2019. We use a lot of it with our chickens to help keep insects out of the coop. I also keep some for adding to my herbal cold care tea formula I make.

seeker.nancy - Central Texas

Sage can also be propogated like mint in that if you have a stem along the ground and it stays there for too long it will form roots. That is helpful when you want more plants lol.

SuperC

Oh my goodness! Absolutely lovely information! I love sage tea, chewing on it, and growing it! Thank you all your sharing sage tips!

merlin44

Smudging with sage, traditionally used to cleanse energy, actually kills airborne bacteria. The article I read stated approximately 94% of the bacteria stayed gone for 30 days.

herbantherapy

@merlin44 I have been using white sage for smudging most my life mostly ceremonial cleansing. I only recently found out that it literally cleans the air, but I did not know it does it for 30 days! Cool.

I’m in zone 8b and garden sage is year round if we don’t have a long frost (so rare here) but the flavored sages like ‘Pineapple’ and ‘Tangerine’ are perennials that typically come back up easily enough. I added Russian sage (not a true sage, but smells heavenly) this year and plan to add Clary Sage this spring.

I really want to grow my own white sage as it is rarely sustainably picked for commercial selling. It typically grows in the desert though so I’m not sure I can get it to go in my Oregon coastal garden. Does anyone have experience with it growing anywhere not in the desert?

Obiora E

@Leslie Carl Thank you for sharing article. I first grew Garden Sage about 11 years ago from seed and used it in a food that i had had made. I never cared too much for dried Sage (sold in stores) but the fresh Sage is so much better.

@herbantherapy I have been smudged by White Sage and bought some for myself last year. I have a friend in the Chicago area who has talked about trying to grow some there. The next time that I talk with her I will ask if she was able to get it to grow and how it did.

merlin44

@herbantherapy Yes, I grow white sage in the Ozarks (zone 6B). Grows well year round. Germination didn't happen first-go-round but once it got going, no problems. I like to make my own sage bundles, notice a slight difference in the energy over ones I've purchased in the past.

herbantherapy

@merlin44 that is encouraging! I will try to find some seeds or a start to grow at home.

dottile46

@Leslie Carl would it be possible for you to go over to the thread on raising livestock and tell us about your sage in the hen house? I am very interested in that. Thank you for sharing.

Leslie Carl

@dottile46 Sure, I can do that. 🙂

Leslie Carl

@dottile46 Check it out here;

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/842753/herbs-good-for-you-good-for-your-chickens

Nicoleburba

@Leslie Carl Hello Leslie, thank you for the article. I grow sage, but my sage does not look good. It's leaves are not nicely green but get covered with white and yellow dots. My sage is about 6 years old. Shall replant sage every couple or so years

dianne.misspooz

Great article and great website! I just signed up. Love learning all about herbs and spices. :)

Dianne

Grounded

@Obiora E I live in the Chicago area and while I did not plant from seed, I do have several sage plants that I have growing in my garden presently and they seem to be doing quite nicely, though not as large as some have been talking about elsewhere in this forum.

Torey

Kami McBride is redoing her Spice Rack Hacks class and this one has a PDF on Sage infusions. https://herbalkitchenremedysolutions.com/vid-3-unlock-your-spice-rack-superpowers