Thursday, July 26, 2012

Russian Sage

Where I live, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Russian Sage is a very popular plant.  They are native to central asia and the middle east, where their flowers are eaten and their leaves are smoked like tobacco. 

They grow in clumps with blue flower panicles at the end of each stem.  Their leaves are very fine, and are gray-green in color.  These plants can grow to be 4 - 6 feet tall, and about 3 feet wide. 

Russian Sage starts blooming in July and continues well into September.  If you sniff them, you'll notice a slight sage-like fragrance.  It is not a true sage, but as stated above, it is an edible herb.


Russian Sage likes full sun and is drought tolerant.  If left to its own devices, it will take over your garden, so you'll need to thin them out.  Pruning is best done in the spring.  If you wish to propagate the plant, just insert a cutting into a moist growing medium.  The success rate for propagating is very high for these hardy plants.

7 comments:

  1. I love the purple. We have purple sage in Texas and it gets so full. Very pretty and so rich in color.

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    1. I like the purple color, too. I really enjoy seeing it in all the gardens where I live.

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  2. These are lovely and they grow under full sun. So nice to find one that I haven't seen in our area that we could grow in the desert. Despite the sandy soil in Dubai, I think it could thrive here especially during the colder months.

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    1. Have you seen it anywhere in Dubai? If not, maybe you can trying growing it and see what happens. I'm not sure about the sandy soil, but it sounds like your climate would be fine for it.

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  3. Russian Sage is very pretty. Sounds like something I could grow here without any fuss.

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    1. Yes, it's very easy to grow. Just watch so it doesn't take over everything (unless you don't care about that ;))

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  4. I love this plant, purple and silvery.

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