Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-589
Clary Sage
Salvia sclarea
Clary Sage is a biennial herb that spends its first year as a low rosette of woolly leaves before sending up a tall flower spike, setting seed and dying in its second year. The flowering stems are distilled into muscatel oil, an ambergris-scented fixative used in perfumery and soap, while the leaves and flowers have a long history as a beer and wine flavoring and the seed forms a soothing mucilage once soaked in water. It self-sows so readily that any planting becomes a self-perpetuating stand without replanting - cutting the spikes before they set seed is the only way to stop volunteers building up a persistent seed bank. It tolerates almost any well-drained soil and handles hard winter cold easily, but needs full sun and cannot take shade at all.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 2–4 ft
- Mature spread
- 24–36 in
- Plant spacing
- 12–36 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
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Alfalfa
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Alsike Clover
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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