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For some folks, the holidays just wouldn’t be right without the traditional sage stuffing. Although we are most familiar with culinary sage plants, there are many different types of sage. Some types of sage plants have medicinal properties as well, or are grown purely for ornamental purposes. All of these sage plants work well for gardens. Read on to find out about sage plant varieties and their uses.
Sage is a versatile and flavorful herb that every cook should have in their kitchen arsenal. But with over 900 species in the Salvia genus, it can be confusing to know which types of sage are best for cooking. Here are the top 8 culinary varieties of sage and their uses:
1. Common Sage (Salvia officinalis)
The most popular type, common sage has soft, broad gray-green leaves with a distinctive aroma and earthy, slightly bitter taste. It’s an essential for seasoning meats, stuffings, beans, cheeses, and fatty foods. Dried common sage has an even more pronounced flavor Look for the cultivars ‘Berggarten’ and ‘Purpurascens’ for superior culinary quality
2. Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)
With bright red flowers and leaves that smell of pineapple, this tender perennial adds a sweet fruitiness to dishes Its milder flavor is great for desserts, fruit salads, sangrias, and teas Pineapple sage also makes a beautiful ornamental plant. Grow it in containers to overwinter indoors.
3. Greek Sage (Salvia fruticosa)
Sometimes called Turkish sage, this Mediterranean native has slightly thicker leaves and a more intense mint-pine flavor. Use it for bold seasoned lamb, strong cheeses like feta, and Greek recipes. The cultivar ‘Tricolor’ has showy pink and white variegated foliage.
4. Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea)
Clary sage has very large, textured leaves and an earthy, nutty flavor with floral notes. It excels at flavoring eggnogs, sorbets, wine, vermouths, and liqueurs. Its flowers and leaves are also used in perfumery. Be sure to get culinary clary sage, not ornamental varieties.
5. Fruit-Scented Sage (Salvia dorisiana)
Native to Mexico, this unique peach/apricot-scented sage adds an interesting sweetness to drinks, salsas, and fruit or pork dishes. Its fruity aroma also makes fruit-scented sage a fantastic garnish. Protect it from frost by overwintering indoors.
6. Lyre-Leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)
Also called cancer weed or purple sage, this wild species has deeply lobed, lyrata-shaped leaves. Milder than common sage, it works well in salads, soups, vegetarian dishes, and anywhere you want a delicate sage tone. Hardy to zone 6, lyre-leaf sage grows up to 3 feet tall.
7. Purple Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’)
This lovely ornamental cultivar has broad leaves tinged in purple hues. It looks gorgeous planted en masse in borders and adds rich color when chopped finely to cream sauces, aiolis, or herb butters for its mild sage flavor. Since it’s merely a variety of common sage, purple sage offers the same versatility in cooking.
8. Painted Sage (Salvia viridis)
A standout for its bold magenta bracts and pale blue flowers, painted sage is another milder sage that adds pretty color to salads, pastas, vinegars, and garnishes. The young leaves and bracts are the most tender for eating fresh. This annual sage also reseeds readily.
With its array of culinary sages, you can match varieties to both cuisine and ornamental appeal. Grow a selection of these tasty types in your kitchen herb garden to discover your favorites.
Ornamental Sage Plants for Gardens
Pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) is a perennial flowering sage with tubular red flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. This beautiful plant is mostly grown for its looks these days, but it is also said to have medicinal uses. Grape scented sage doesn’t smell like grapes, but rather more like freesia. It can get quite tall (6 – 8 feet or 2 – 2. 5 m. ). It is a late blooming plant that attracts hummingbirds. The leaves and flowers can be steeped to make tea. Another common salvia amongst gardeners is Salvia splendens or scarlet sage. This is an annual plant that does best in full sun but can also handle some shade as long as it gets enough water and the soil doesn’t stay soggy. Blossoms are scarlet in color and last from late spring through the first frost. Mealycup sage (Salvia farinacea) is generally an annual in most regions. It attains a height of 2-3 feet (0. 5 – 1 m. ) and is punctuated with blue, purple or white flower spikes. Some newer varieties to look for are ‘Empire Purple,’ ‘Strata’ and ‘Victoria Blue. ’ Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) grows to 3-4 feet (1 m. ), is drought tolerant, but a tender perennial otherwise. This beautiful accent plant has purple or white flower spikes. There are too many other types of sage plants to list here, whether you want them for their fragrant leaves, as an ornamental plant, or for both. Sage plants can handle harsh weather, and there are so many kinds that you’re sure to find one that you like.
Types of Sage Plants
There are many different types of sage or salvia plants available. Some types of sage are perennial, some are annual, and some don’t bloom at all. However, they are all pretty hardy. The leaves can be sage green, purple-green variegated, or gold variegated, and the flowers can be lavender, bright blue, or happy red. With so many varieties of sage, there’s bound to be a variety for your landscape.
Garden or common sage (Salvia officinalis) is the most common type of sage used for cooking. You can also make tea from the leaves. It is very hardy and bounces back in the spring even after a severely cold winter. This particular sage has soft, silvery green leaves that can be used fresh or dried. It is also known to attract beneficial insects, which are attracted to its purple-blue flowers. Garden sage is hardy, but after a few years, it usually gets too woody to make many fragrant leaves, so it needs to be replaced every 3–4 years. However, I had a very woody sage that was dying, so I dug it up last year. This year, I have brand new downy leaves peeping up from the soil. Hardy, indeed! There are a number of these common garden sage plant varieties.
- Another type is a dwarf that is less than a foot tall and has purple-blue flowers.
- As the name suggests, purple garden sage has purple leaves when they are young. Not to be confused with purple salvia, which is grown for decoration, this type of sage doesn’t bloom as often as other garden sages.
- Golden sage is a creeping sage with leaves that are striped with gold and green. It makes the colors of other plants stand out.
- Tricolor garden sage has an uneven pattern with white spots that make it look a bit like purple sage.
- Berggarten sage is the last of the garden sages. It is a lot like common sage, but it doesn’t bloom. Instead, it has beautiful soft, silvery green leaves.
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