Sage
Salvia officinalis · Perennial
Woody, drought-tolerant and slow-growing indoors. Like rosemary, it prefers to be left slightly too dry rather than slightly too wet.
What it needs indoors
- Light
- Full sun6+ hours direct sun
- Water
- Let it dry outAllow to dry between waterings
- Temperature
- 60–70°F
- Growing medium
- Well-draining, low fertility
- Native range
- Limestone hills of the northern Mediterranean
- Difficulty
- Enthusiast
What usually goes wrong
Centre of the plant goes black and soft while the outer stems still look fine
Crown rot. Sage grows from a woody crown that expects to sit dry, and a rich mix holding moisture against it rots the plant from the middle out.
Fix: Plant it high, with the crown proud of the soil surface, in a gritty low-fertility mix. Water at the edge of the pot rather than over the top of the plant. A crown that has already gone soft cannot be saved. Take cuttings from clean outer stems.
Barely moves for months
Sage is slow indoors at the best of times, and short days bring it close to a standstill.
Fix: Leave it be. Cut the watering right back, skip the fertiliser, and wait for the light to return. Feeding a plant that is not growing is how the crown ends up rotting.
New leaves come through thin and floppy with little scent
Foliage grown under a weak window comes out soft and low in oils, and it never firms up afterwards.
Fix: Six hours of direct sun as a minimum, supplemented if the window cannot manage it. Cut the soft growth back in spring and what replaces it comes through greyer and thicker.
