Pineapple Sage
Things to Know About the Pineapple Sage
The pineapple sage has a bruised foliage that really smells like fresh pineapple! This is a shrub of the herbaceous, semi-woody variety. It is usually about three to five feet in height, and its branches are airy and open. This sage, like many mints, has opposing leaves and square stems. The leaves are light green, with soft fuzz, and grow two to four inches long, with margins that are serrated. The flowers are red as rubies, and are one to two inches long. Like other varieties of salvia, the blooms are tubular, and have two lips. The lower lip spreads out and the upper lip is like a hood. The plant flowers in late summer and into autumn.
Pineapple sage naturally grows in pine scrub and oak forests, at elevations of eight thousand to ten thousand feet, in Guatemala and Mexico. There is also a “Scarlet Pineapple” which has more and bigger blooms than the wild species. And there is a “Frieda Dixon” variety which has lovely pink flowerheads.
Grow your sage in full sunlight, and offer regular waterings for flowering and maximum growth. The Pineapple sage will wilt and drop leaves when faced with drought conditions, but it generally bounces back when watering or rain resumes.
The Pineapple sage dies to the ground during the winter, but it resprouts in the spring. Gardeners who live in colder areas usually grow this sage as an annual plant, or bring it inside for the winter. This sage is not often grown from seed. If you cut a tip cutting in the spring, they are easy to start.
Pineapple sage is a beautiful but tough plant that is useful in herb gardens, beds and borders. If you are planting a garden in containers, it gets along well with other plants, and provides a green and lush backdrop for your plants in smaller pots.
You can use this sage in the center of gardens, where its airy, open structure won't hide your other plants. If you're a northerner, you can cut the sage back, and dig it up in the fall to winter it indoors. After you return the plant to the garden when spring arrives, it will bloom earlier than plants that you start from cuttings. Another way to winter the sage is to root your cuttings in the fall and keep them indoors until the spring.
Salvias boast more than 700 species, and lots of gardeners have started collecting Salvia. Sages are tough and relatively easy to grow, and they attract many hummingbirds and butterflies.
You can use the leaves from the sage in drinks and fruit salads. You can crush some fragrant leaves onto your iced tea for a wonderful treat. The flowers add flavor and color to desserts and salads.