Garden sage (Salvia officinalis)

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Garden sage

Habit (mature) · Kurt Stüber / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

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Garden sage

Salvia officinalis

A Mediterranean evergreen subshrub with gray-green velvety foliage + lavender summer flowers. Among the most useful kitchen herbs + a strong nectar source for honey bees, native bumblebees, and solitary bees. Perennial in zones 4a-8b; longer-lived in well-drained alkaline soils.

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: moderate (45/100)

Edible

Pollinator

Border

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Mature size

18-30" tall · 24" apart

Hardy in zones

4a-8b

very cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Mild-Hot

mild to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

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Heat and sun protection

Shade cloth, shade hoops, cooling mulch, and heat-stress monitoring tools.

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Drainage and aeration

Perlite, pumice, raised-bed mix, aerators, and drainage-focused containers.

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Acid-soil care

Sulfur, acid-loving plant fertilizer, pine bark, and pH monitoring.

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Soil testing and pH

pH meters, soil test kits, lab mailers, and amendment calculators.

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Transplanting and establishment

Trowels, transplant spades, starter fertilizer, root stimulators, and watering bags.

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Seed starting

Trays, cells, humidity domes, heat mats, grow lights, and seed-starting mix.

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Drought-tolerant once established; over-watered plants are short-lived.

Climate notes

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

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Where this plant fits

Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 35 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Colorado Rockies forests

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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Appears in collections

Collection · 6 plants

Mediterranean drought-tolerant edible

A low-water edible palette of culinary herbs + a hardy grape for hot dry sunny sites. Mediterranean-origin plants thrive on neglect; their primary failure mode is overwatering, not underwatering.

English lavender

Rosemary

Garden sage

Oregano

Common thyme

Fox grape

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Garden sage (Salvia officinalis). Retrieved 2026, June 5, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/garden-sage

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited — 18 source-backed.