Sage Common (Salvia officinalis) – fresh leaves and chopped herbs with a mezzaluna on a board

Sage Common

£1.95
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Sage Common (Salvia officinalis) – fresh leaves and chopped herbs with a mezzaluna on a board
RHS Plants for Pollinators

Sage Common

Salvia officinalis

Grey-green velvety leaves all year and blue-purple flower spikes in early summer. The Sunday roast herb, and it wants sharp drainage more than anything else.

£1.95

Free UK delivery on seed orders over £40

Dispatched from our Norfolk farm — Royal Mail, usually within one working day.

Your growing year

Sow, plant out and harvest months for this variety

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sow
Plant out
Harvest
SowPlant outHarvest

At a glance

Height
50-70cm
Spread
60cm
Spacing
45cm
Position
Full sun, sheltered. Evergreen sub-shrub, hardy but hates wet feet.
Seeds per packet
30
Soil
Free-draining. Wet winter roots are the main cause of loss.
Grow guide How to grow Sage Common Read the full guide →

About this variety

The definitive culinary workhorse of a cottage garden. A dense evergreen mound of thick pebbly silver-grey leaves, heavy with aromatic oil, and the essential herb for a Sunday roast, a proper stuffing or a herb butter.

Being evergreen is what makes it valuable. While the annual herbs are long gone, sage carries on giving you fresh grey-green leaves through the winter, and it puts up spikes of mauve-blue flowers in early summer that the bees work steadily.

Its one real enemy is winter wet rather than winter cold. On heavy clay, add grit or grow it in a raised bed or a terracotta pot. When pruning, cut into green growth only — sage does not reliably regenerate from old brown wood.

RHS Plants for Pollinators

This plant has been assessed by the Royal Horticultural Society and recommended as especially beneficial to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Growing plants like this directly supports UK pollinator populations — something close to our hearts at Salle Moor Hall Farm, where we see the difference a cottage garden full of the right plants can make.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →