Tricolor Sage Plants

Salvia officinalis Tricolor Edible Sage Plants

Salvia officinalis Tricolor is a useful and extremely attractive garden herb. It's a striking variety of sage with soft rounded leaves in a muted olive green with cream edges that are flushed beetroot pink at the edges. The stems are vivid purple, so it will certainly brighten up your herb garden. We also grow classic green sage and purple sage. Take a look at our entire range UK grown vegetables and herbs.

This gorgeous plant also has flowers in mid-summer; the vivid blue trumpets open from rich purple buds, a little like the early-spring blooms of pulmonarias. 

Features

• Uses: soups, roasts and stuffings
• Taste: Mediterranean, astringent
• Harvest: spring to autumn
• Storage: use fresh, can be frozen and dried
• Foliage: green and cream with a pink blush
• Flowers: small blue trumpets in summer
• Height: 40cm
• Spacing: 30cm
• Life: Hardy perennial

Growing Tricolor Sage

Always give sage sharply drained soil in full sun - it's a Mediterranean sun lover, after all. And don't overwater. It will be fine in a terracotta pot on a hot patio, too, where many of the softer herbs will wilt and die. Or plant in a dedicated herb garden alongside other drought-tolerant species, such as curry plant, rosemary and thyme.

This is one herb that's pretty enough to enter a mixed bed, where it makes attractive ground cover towards the front of a border, underneath pink roses, for example, where that blush colouring will complement the rose's blooms. It's perfect, too, with lavender, and any other plants with similar grey-green colouring.

As with most aromatic herbs, Tricolor Sage is rarely attacked by pests or disease. The main thing to remember is not to prune it in autumn because the frosts will kill it. Instead, prune lightly in spring to encourage leafy growth with strong flavour and to maintain its shape, and then prune again after flowering in late summer. Keep the soil rich and well-drained.

Did You Know?

You can make an astringent herbal tea with sage flowers: pour boiling water over the flowers and leave to steep for three minutes.

The flowers can be eaten like the leaves, their mellower flavour is good tossed into salads or fried in olive oil until crisp and used to garnish soups.
The leaves are traditionally shredded and used in sausage-meat stuffing or sausage rolls. They're a tasty addition to roasted vegetables, particularly squash and pumpkin.