Last edited on 2 Nov 2026. View history
Clary Sage
Clary Sage
A variety of salvia
A biennial or short-lived herbaceous sage growing to about 2 m, with large, furry, sage-like leaves and showy purple-pink flower spikes. A handsome plant for the back of a border or herb garden. Sow into trays in early spring or autumn, prick out at 3 cm diagonal spacing and transplant at 30 cm diagonal spacing once the leaves touch.
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Clary sage facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For clary sage, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 8°C and a shortest growing cycle of 150 days at its best temperature, about 2325 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your clary sage will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Salvia sclarea L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Lamiales Labiatae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial, perennial |
| Habit | erect, acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells), excessive (dry/moderately dry) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
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