Meadow Sage

The meadow sage has been used as a medicinal herb for years. This herb originated in the southern parts of Europe and now they are spread over the western parts of Asia, and the northern parts of Africa. This herbaceous perennial plant belongs to the family of Lamiaceae. The scientific name of this herb is Salvia pratensis and they are also known as the Meadow Clary or the Meadow Sage May Night. These herbs are not only used for medicinal purposes but they are also used for improving the taste of a food dish or for decorating the garden. If you are planning to grow these perennial herbs to decorate your garden or for making the best use of their benefits, then here are some information about the sage and also how you are supposed to take care of it.

The Benefits

As it has been already mentioned, mainly grows in western parts of Asia, southern parts of Europe and the northern parts of Africa. This herb usually grows up to a height of 35 to 85 cm tall and around 50 cm wide (the height and the width of course, depends upon the environmental conditions). These plants have violet flowers and these flowers are arranged around the stem. The color of the flowers might vary from rich violet to that of bluish violet and sometimes it might also be the color of violet blue or pure white or rose pink. The leaves of this herb have a whitish color and they also have jagged edges. These leaves are arranged on the stalk, one leaf just opposite the other and the size of the leaves decreases as one goes higher up the stalk or the branch.

These herbs benefits are innumerable. They are used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The pleasant aroma that the leaves of this herb gives out, is what acts as a flavoring agent while cooking a meal. This herb is also used for curing any kind of cuts or sprains and even joint pain or ulcers. This is possible due to the inflammatory properties of this herb. They also help to improve the memory and also cure cold and cough. If you love gardening and would love to watch the colorful butterflies flying over your flowers, then just plant some between the plants as these plants attract butterflies and bees and even birds. Now that we know about the various benefits, let us see what are the various ways to care about the sage.

Care for the Plant

Before planting the sage in your garden, you should know what are the various ways to take care of them. Given below are some tips which you need to keep in mind for proper care.

• These herbs grow best in soil that are well drained and mildly acidic and has a mildly alkaline pH level.
• The minimum temperature till which it can survive is around -3.8 degrees Celsius. They are drought resistant plant.
• The flowers of this herb usually blooms around spring and they remain for the whole of summer.
• These herbs require partly shaded area to grow properly. Keeping them in an area where there is no sun, will kill these plants.
• The sage is susceptible to certain diseases such as powdery mildew, the verticillium wilt or maybe rhizoctonia. You can either use fertilizers from the market or you can even make some of your own fertilizers at home and use them on the plants. They will help protect your herb from any kind of diseases.

Well, this was all that you had to know about this medicinal plant, called the meadow sage. You know what are the various benefits of this herb now and also what are the various means of taking care of it. Just keep one point in mind that pregnant women should NOT take this herb.