Focus mostly on removing dead leaves instead of stem-cutting in order to encourage growth that will keep the plant healthy all year. Save major pruning for winter, during the dormant season. Prune sage in the springtime. Cut stems with healthy leaves not only for cooking, but also to encourage air circulation through the plant. With some very easy and simple snipping, many Salvia species will bloom from spring or summer all the way to frost. Aim … Once your sage leaves are dried, they can be crushed easily with your hands if you wish to store them that way. To learn how to harvest your sage before pruning, keep reading! Violet Silverleaf (or “Cloud” series) Texas Sage Chihuahuan Sage Leucophyllum candidum L. frutescens L. laevigatum Summer and fall flowering No pruning required if selected for the appropriate space. Light, 2-step pruning (if needed) in late spring after first flowering. Dried sage is stronger in flavor than fresh sage, so use it conservatively to avoid over-seasoning your meals. Shears. It may need pruning so that sun reaches all branches, not just some. Finally, remove all of the remaining old wood in late winte… Instead, prune neglected, overgrown shrubs over three years. Prune your sage up to three times a year for healthy growth. Take a few steps back away from the shrub often as you prune to survey your work and see where you need to cut next. Pruning and shaping herbs increases the attractiveness of the plant. Pruning the herbs also stimulates their growth. One side of my sage is all wood. This article was co-authored by Monique Capanelli. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 67,290 times. Sage is a woody perennial herb that makes a great addition to both your garden and kitchen. Remove stems at the base of the plant to prevent fungal disease. Annual herbs like basil, cilantro, tarragon, and lemon balm benefit from constant, light pruning throughout their growing season, which runs from early spring to early fall.. Evergreen perennial herbs like rosemary, chives, oregano, thyme, and sage can survive year-round. Monique Capanelli is a Plant Specialist and the Owner and Designer for Articulture Designs, an innovative design firm and boutique in Austin, Texas. She provides plant and botanical design experiences, from small gifts to entire transformations, to shoppers as well as commercial clients including Whole Foods Market and The Four Seasons. She attended the University of Texas at Austin. Be sure to use sharp scissor or pruners to avoid damaging or crushing the stems of the plant. Larger herbs, such as rosemary, sage, and thyme, don’t require much additional pruning during the growing season unless they’ve become leggy or overgrown. • Reduction and thinning cuts are not appropriate. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Inspect the heavier woody stems at the base, and remove any that seem rotten or are not showing signs of budding. You shouldn't need to prune the plant because it is too large for the space (instead replace it … If you design the planting appropriately pruning should only be part of the late summer and late winter clean up. During the cooler seasons, limit your pruning to the removal of spent blossoms and dead branches and avoid cutting into live woody stems. You can store sage stems and pluck individual leaves as you need them. Live woody stems can easily be mistaken for dead stems if they are pruned too early, so it is best to wait until some new growth emerges before starting. This will help prevent disease transmission, you will have to do it before you start pruning and every time you change plants. An alternate title to this could have been: How To Prune Overgrown Woody Salvias. Monique Capanelli is a Plant Specialist and the Owner and Designer for Articulture Designs, an innovative design firm and boutique in Austin, Texas. Save major pruning for winter, during the dormant season. Part of the series: More Gardening Advice . When Canary Island sage flowers in June and July, its mauve to purple flowers are glorious, but in a single season, this plant is perfectly capable of growing to 8 feet tall and becoming just as wide. It seems extreme because you are basically cutting these multi-stemmed shrubs down to ugly-looking stumps (usually between 6 inches to 2 feet long). Monique is a Certified Permaculture Designer. Rinse your sage thoroughly with warm water before you eat it or cook with it. On further inspection, we'll find that sage is well worthy of this accolade. 22 September 2020. Pruning also controls the growth of the plant. As for all pruning, it is important to know your plant. As compact bushes, they don't need need much pruning for aesthetic purposes, unless they become woody in the center. This keeps sage bushes looking neat. With over 15 years of experience, Monique specializes in interior botanical design, living walls, event decor, and sustainable landscape design. Q: I love the purple flowers of 'Silverado' sage after a rain, but I do not love how stalky the shrubs can become. Pruning will make way for tender new growth that will be vulnerable to the cold and may be damaged or killed. Trim to keep the bush a convenient size for your garden. I’m planning on replacing it next year so this year I thought that I would experiment a little with it and give it a hard pruning. According to some advisors, pruning salvias involves careful planning and time-consuming snipping of individual stems, but when managing forty or fifty overgrown plants, the most practical tool is an electric trimmer, wielded with tough love. Badly overgrown shrubs respond well to pruning in late winter/early spring, just before new leaves appear. Expert Interview. Russian sage will regrow the branches in spring and is prone to further flowering after severe pruning. Managing large shrubs isn’t done overnight. Wait until spring for pruning back summer-flowering shrubs such as bougainvillea, sage, oleanders, etc. Don’t shear. You need a good pair of loppers and sometimes a pruning saw and you are ready to go. Observe the natural shape of the shrub before pruning it to guide your work. A pair of gloves. Neil Sperry: Too-tall Texas sage is easy to prune back Neil Sperry Dec. 25, 2020 Updated: Dec. 25, 2020 6:55 a.m. Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit Pinterest Monique Capanelli. What happened? https://www.finegardening.com/article/pruning-subshrubs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id8OjwsLPLM&feature=youtu.be&t=88, https://www.thekitchn.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-growing-sage-221035, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm24CgBeD1Q&feature=youtu.be&t=82, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sx4X8yNt5w&feature=youtu.be&t=18, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEEBjxvxzIE&feature=youtu.be&t=54, https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/herbs/sage.php, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. This should be done in the springtime for best results. Its bare legs and gaping belly would make it unsightly. By using our site, you agree to our. Once the blooming season is over, however, you may want to cut the branches that flowered down, as they will be too woody for consumption. This fast-growing plant will quickly spread beyond its place if allowed, and proper pruning will keep it in check. Woody herbs such as lavender, thyme, rosemary and sage, as well as the less-woody-but … Spring to fall flowering. One method is to prune them back over a 3-year period. You want to keep a fairly symmetrical shape. Proper pruning can renew or rejuvenate overgrown, deciduous shrubs. • Common pruning is removal of lower branches to allow traffic to pass. To prune sage, all you need to do is use clean, sharp gardening shears or scissors to cut the stems so that they are about 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) above the ground. Sage Advice by Sue Crawford, UC Master Gardener (retired) The author Zane Grey immortalized the common garden plant, sage, in his 1912 classic, Riders of the Purple Sage. Retain several well-spaced, vigorous shoots and remove all of the others. It should be pruned every year to encourage new growth. You can continue to let them grow. Cut back the entire plant to within 4 to 6 inches of the ground if it is no longer flowering well or if it has become badly overgrown. Continued pruning will cause damage, but an occasional plucking of a few leaves for Thanksgiving dinner is acceptable. Replace your sage plants every 4-5 years to ensure the best quality of your herbs. Pruning is important for several reasons. Harvest sage leaves as you need them, or in bulk to dry and store for later use. Pruning Conifers • Conifers growing in a landscape with sufficient space do not require pruning. So, after shaping herbs, you may consider moving them to a larger area. It’s woody and overgrown. Simply prune your shrub back until there is only about 1 – 2 ft left. In particular, pruning helps you easily keep the plant in shape and to help it grow without any health issues. Each year, take out a third of the heaviest stems to start new growth developing. Salvia is the genus name for sage … She provides plant and botanical design experiences, from small gifts to entire transformations, to shoppers as well as commercial clients including Whole Foods Market and The Four Seasons. This article has been viewed 67,290 times. Trim sage bushes in the morning, when the foliage is moist inside but dry on the surface. If you start plucking their leaves for cooking purposes, however, you'll want to trim them frequently to encourage new growth -- meaning new fragrant leaves for your garden and more tasty morsels for your kitchen. Trim back half of the plant to ensure rejuvenation. Prune sage plants in the spring to ensure their healthy growth. Some herbs, like rosemary, sage, and thyme, will become woody with age. Cut last year's stems down to about 6 to 8 inches from the ground in early spring using anvil pruners. Rather than harming the bush, this will encourage new growth for harvesting before the next trim. Monique is a Certified Permaculture Designer. If that's the case, shape them by pruning back the plant by up to a third. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Tips for Pruning: Prune all branches to below the eave of the house. Sage bushes are fragrant additions to a garden, with striking gray-green leaves that add a punch of flavor to dishes in the kitchen. Sage stems can also be re-planted to propagate new growth. If this is the sage plant’s first trim, be very careful not to over-prune. With over 15 years of experience, Monique specializes in interior botanical design, living walls, event decor, and sustainable landscape design. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Last Updated: October 22, 2020 If you really can’t stand to see another ad again, then please consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Trim back any overgrown stems so they are the same length as the bulk of the plant. Prune the stems back until they're just a few inches off the ground in late winter. It is not advisable to prune sage during the fall or winter. The following year (again in March or early April), prune out one-half of the remaining old stems. Trimming back the branches that flowered will also help promote new shoot growth. Remove any dead or damaged leaves that you see as you harvest the sage stems so that your kitchen herbs are as healthy as possible. If the sides become too wide for their space, prune them back as you see fit. Sanitize your cutting tools with isopropyl alcohol before and after every use. Begin by removing one-third of the large, old stems at ground level in late winter/early spring (March or early April). To learn how to harvest your sage before pruning, keep reading! I have been careful to not over water them and even tried light pruning. A true pruning, not just a pinch of the leaves you are harvesting, is best … Mexican sage is a fast growing, bushy plant. No sage gets the pruning hand itching quite like Salvia canariensis. Depending on the type of subshrub, the best times to prune are in the spring and, in some cases, after the first bloom. How Much to Winter Prune Large Sage Bushes? Stop pruning and harvesting large quantities of sage after the beginning of September in all regions. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/2\/29\/Prune-Sage-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Prune-Sage-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/2\/29\/Prune-Sage-Step-1.jpg\/aid10069506-v4-728px-Prune-Sage-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"