A group of plants I grow a lot in my own garden and in my clients’ garden designs is the perennial Salvias. Salvias are part of the mint family, the Lamiaceae and you can see they’re related both in the look of the leaves and also the shape of the flowers. It’s the scent that truly gives them away however, not that they smell minty, just that they’re so fragrant. The scent of Salvia microphylla when brushed is one of my favourites in the garden.
Generally easy to look after, though often on the tender or near-tender side, the only real task for the gardener is to prune them each year. In the UK this must be done in spring between April and May depending on where you are in the country (south earlier, north later), leaving the old stems on through winter to protect the plant and prevent fungal infections on cut stems.
As the days grow shorter and temperatures start to drop, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your garden especially tender herbs like baby sage, for the coming winter months. Proper preparation and care will help ensure your baby sage makes it through the winter to flourish again next spring. In this comprehensive guide we’ll walk through all the key steps you need to take to winterize your baby sage and set it up for success.
Before we dive into winter care, let’s start with a quick overview of baby sage itself. Baby sage, also known by its botanical name Salvia microphylla, is a woody, evergreen perennial in the mint family. It’s grown as a compact, bushy shrub reaching 1 to 1.5 feet tall and wide.
The small, aromatic leaves are oval with finely serrated edges Baby sage can bloom off and on throughout the year, producing small flowers in hues of purple, pink, or white It’s native to Mexico and Guatemala. Beyond its ornamental qualities, it also has culinary uses similar to its close relative common sage.
Why Proper Winter Care is Crucial
Baby sage prefers warm conditions and suffers damage and dieback if exposed to extreme cold and frost. That means frigid winters can take a heavy toll on these plants. Even in milder climates seasonal dieback is common if baby sages aren’t properly winterized.
The good news is that with careful preparation and protection, you can help your baby sage successfully survive dormancy through winter. Then it will be poised for a vigorous regrowth when warmer weather returns.
If you live in an area with harsh winters, growing baby sage in containers is recommended. That way you can move the pots to a protected area as needed. In the ground, establish winter protection structures like mini hoop tunnels over your plants.
Here are the key tips to follow:
Trim Back Leggy Growth
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Before winter, examine your baby sage and trim back any long, leggy growth to keep the plant compact. This helps prevent breakage from heavy snow or ice.
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Remove any dead or damaged branches and faded flowers to encourage new growth. Don’t drastically cut back major living branches.
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Late summer or early fall is ideal timing for trimming. Avoid heavy pruning in late fall right before winter; it can trigger tender new growth that is vulnerable to cold damage.
Add Winter Mulch
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Spread 2 to 4 inches of mulch such as bark chips, compost, leaves, or straw around the base of the plant. This insulates the soil and protects the roots.
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If growing in containers, cover the soil surface with mulch. You can also wrap the sides of the pot with bubble wrap to protect from freezing.
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Mulch helps regulate soil temperature and moisture during winter months. Replenish as needed after heavy winds or rain.
Adjust Watering Habits
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Baby sage needs less frequent watering in winter but the soil should never completely dry out. Water whenever the top few inches of soil become dry.
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Take care not to overwater during winter months as excess moisture can lead to root rot in cool conditions.
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For container plants, check soil moisture often since pots dry out faster. Water thoroughly until it drains from the bottom drainage holes.
Protect from Intense Cold and Frost
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Shield baby sage from harsh winds, which can damage or kill exposed tissue. Erect a temporary windscreen using stakes and burlap.
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Cover with frost cloth or floating row cover overnight or when hard frosts are forecasted. Remove fabric during daytime to avoid overheating.
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Move containerized plants to an unheated garage, porch, or greenhouse for added protection during cold snaps. Bring plants indoors only as a last resort.
Monitor for Pests
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Inspect plants periodically for pests like aphids and scale. Pests seek out tender new growth and can weaken plants going into winter.
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Apply horticultural oil or insecticidal soap if needed. Avoid broad spectrum pesticides which also kill beneficial insects.
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Remove and destroy severely infested branches. Maintain vigilance for pests on indoor overwintered plants.
Fertilize Lightly in Fall
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A light application of balanced organic fertilizer in early fall helps fortify baby sage before dormancy. Use half strength dosage. Avoid high nitrogen products.
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Do not fertilize late in fall or during winter months. This can spur tender growth vulnerable to cold damage. Resume normal fertilizing in spring after last frost date.
Practice Patience
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Don’t panic if your baby sage drops many leaves or appears lifeless during winter; this is normal dormancy. Resist the urge to prune or over-stimulate plants during this time.
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New growth will emerge when conditions improve in spring. Let nature take its course and avoid pushing growth during cold months.
Provide Winter Protection for Container Plants
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Select a sheltered location for overwintering containers, such as an unheated garage or building entryway. Avoid temperature extremes.
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Group pots together for insulation and wrap or cover the sides with insulating materials like bubble wrap.
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On cold nights, move containers into a basement or heated garage if possible. Make sure plants receive enough sun whenever temperatures allow them to be back outdoors.
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Keep soil slightly moist but not wet while plants are in winter storage. Check moisture levels often.
Be Prepared to Act Quickly
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Keep an eye on the weather forecast so you can react quickly to protect plants from sudden cold snaps or heavy snowfalls.
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Be ready to flexibly move plants into shelter or whip out protective covers as needed when winter weather takes a harsh turn. Respond immediately when thresholds are met.
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In spring, uncover plants gradually over a week or two to transition them back to full sun and avoid shock.
Know When to Cut Your Losses
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Sometimes despite your best efforts, baby sage suffers too much damage to recover. If most branches are shriveled and blackened, it’s best to remove and replace the plant.
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When temperatures warm in spring, patiently wait for signs of new growth from the base or lower branches before taking any action.
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If no new shoots appear after several weeks, the roots likely did not survive winter. Remove and discard the dead plant to make room for a healthy new specimen.
Help Baby Sage Transition in Spring
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When spring arrives, gradually expose plants to more sun over a week or two to avoid sun scald. Keep protective structures ready to recover plants in case of any cold snaps.
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Scratch slow release organic fertilizer lightly into the soil around the plant in early spring to stimulate growth. Avoid high nitrogen products to prevent leggy growth.
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Prune back any dead branches and reshape plants. New growth will quickly fill plants out. Water thoroughly as weather warms and growth accelerates.
Although baby sage prefers warm conditions, taking the time to properly prepare plants for winter dormancy will help ensure they make it through this vulnerable time and live to see another growing season.
The keys are providing insulation, protection from wind and sun, continual moisture, and preventing shocks from sudden temperature drops or exposure. Sheltering container plants and covering in ground plantings gives baby sage the best shot at overwintering success.
With the right care, your baby sage will continue gracing your garden with its fine-textured foliage and subtle blooms for many years to come. A bit of attention now goes a long way toward giving this beauty the winter protection it needs.
Herbaceous – evergreen rosette forming
Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ starting to grow in our garden.
Salvia lyrata, Salvia pratensis and the very popular in the UK, Salvia nemerosa fall into this group. Personally, I find it hard to tell the difference in growth habit between these and the previous deciduous herbaceous Salvias as they tend to all behave the same here in warm London. However, when we do have a colder winter the difference becomes clear as this group does remain largely evergreen and you can see a distinctive ‘crown’ of new shoots forming at the base of the plant in autumn to early winter. Protected beneath the previous year’s growth.
This group of Salvias is easy because you can simply chop off all of last year’s growth in spring when frost is no longer expected. Personally, here in our mild garden, for this group only I actually cut the stems off in winter. Not recommended in colder areas.
New shoots of Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ after pruning
Above you can see many new shoots appearing on the Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ among the bases of the previous year’s stems. These salvias, S. nemerosa especially, flower in late spring to early summer at which point the flowers start fading as the rest of your garden is taking off. It’s at this time you can act brutally in summer and cut the entire plant back down to the lowest shoots. This will spark new growth and another flush of flowers relatively soon afterwards. In a long season you could try doing this later in summer too, but not too late otherwise the growth will be too soft to withstand winter.
I like all salvias but at a push I think this is my favourite group, they tend to be the hardiest and form woody stemmed shrubs to different sizes. Shrubby salvias include Salvia microphylla, Salvia greggii, Salvia involucrata, many hybrids and the edible herb sage, Salvia officinalis. Common cultivars in this group include ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Cerro Potosi’ and ‘Nachtvlinder’. There are hundreds more and if your plants form a woody bush that doesn’t die back in winter, they’re likely in this group.
Whereas the previous two groups are relatively simple to prune, cutting back to the base, the shrubby salvias require a little more thought. Again, leave growth on through winter to protect the plant from cold, snow and frost. Then strike when new growth is spotted in the warmth of early spring.
Remove all dead, diseased or damaged stems to clear the plant of tat. Then, cut back by about a third to a half to a growing point (two pairs of leaves with shoots between them). This will ensure the plant maintains its structure and size, while also keeping in check to prevent it outgrowing spaces and becoming a bit of a tangled, open mess. It’s a little like the way you’d prune lavender but less tidily.
Hard to see in this pic showing Salvia microphylla ‘Cerro Potosi’ in the middle after I’ve just pruned it in our garden. It looks sparse but now it’s growing will soon bush up.
It’s best not to cut below the lowest shooting nodes although, I have found that if you do, new shoots will grow but the plant will be a little slower. So you can hard prune if you want. One down side to hard pruning that I’ve found is that these new shoots from old wood have very brittle joins and are easily snapped off in strong winds. Much better then to keep the strong structure.
In summer you can leave shrubby salvias to do their thing but they can become a little messy as flower stems finish and become bare twigs. Not really a problem at all but I do snip these off to lower shoots. If your garden is quite large, you can speed this process up by giving the shrub a light snip with secateurs taking all old and some new flowers off. This will encourage more flowers fairly soon after. Alternatively, you’ll probably just leave them to get on with it and ignore the little twiggy spent flower stems.
Herbaceous – deciduous
Salvia ‘Amistad’ in our garden, one of many cuttings I’ve taken from the original plant. S. ‘Amistad’ is a hybrid between S. guaranitica and S. gesnerifolia
The herbaceous salvias are those that tend to die back to the ground in winter and include the popular Salvia ‘Amistad’, the new closely related cultivar ‘Amante’ and species Salvia azurea, Salvia elegans (pineapple sage), Salvia engelmanii and Salvia guaranatica to name a small number.
In the UK, many of this group die back because they aren’t particularly hardy and are conservatory plants. But to take the popular ‘Amistad’ as an example, I leave the main stems through winter which in cold winters will die completely. In mild winters here in Clapham, London they can remain alive and even flower all winter. Either way, the pruning is the same.
Leave the stems until spring is firmly here and fresh new growth can be seen, then cut the stems down to their lowest shooting node. In this example above new shoots are growing from the base so I can cut the old stems away completely.
New shoots from Salvia ‘Amistad’ after pruning
The finished article with new stems growing from the soil, which need protecting from slugs and snails but grow away from them quickly in warm spring weather. In some years if the stems are still alive, I cut them to about 30 – 40cm above ground level and let the shoots higher up grow, keeping them away from the slimy nibbling beasties.
How to Prune Salvia to Get Continuous Blooms!! Learned this by Accident! My Selective Pruning Method
FAQ
How do you take care of Baby Sage in the winter?
How to prepare sage plants for winter?
Should I cut back sage for winter?
Should I bring my sage plant inside for the winter?
How do you prepare Sage for winter?
Prune the plants To help prepare your sage for winter, start by pruning the plants to remove any diseased or damaged leaves. Be sure to use clean, sharp pruners so that you don’t risk spreading any unwanted pathogens.
What type of soil does baby sage grow in?
Baby sage (Salvia microphylla) is not a demanding plant regarding the type of soil and can grow in chalk, loam or sand. The chalky soil is pale and contains chunks of calcium-rich rock. It is a fertile and well-draining soil, almost always alkaline. The loam soil is dark, rich in organic matter but balanced in minerals.
Can baby sage grow in cold weather?
Baby sage can be found in shrublands, grasslands, rocky slopes and mountains. This plant is moderately hardy, tolerating temperatures down to -8ºC (17ºF) as long as the soil is well drained. It usually does not tolerate frost, but some varieties can be frost-hardy. Cold and humid soil can be fatal to it.
How long does it take to grow baby sage (Salvia microphylla)?
In this growing guide we’ll learn the cultivation details and how to plant Baby sage (Salvia microphylla). This plant is commonly known as baby sage. This is a evergreen plant that takes 2-5 years to reach full maturity. How to plant Baby sage (Salvia microphylla) – Meneerke bloem, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons