THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603090058
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT STIFFLER, GARDENING COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
AT ONE TIME, garden sage was highly esteemed for its medicinal qualities. Cures attributed to it ranged from healing broken bones and wounds to ending stomach disorders and loss of memory.
Nowadays we could ask, ``How can you stuff a turkey without sage?''
Thomas Jefferson preferred a variety called clary sage at his Monticello home. Clary sage, however, is seldom found in herb books. This hardy biennial (Salvia sclarea) performs well in this area and can be used in a variety of ways for culinary, perfume and medicinal purposes.
Jeanne Pettersen, founder of the Herb Society of America, Tidewater Unit, says that fresh clary sage leaves used to be dipped in cream or egg yolks and fried. The oil adds a muscatel flavor to wine. Clary sage is also used in products such as vermouth and frozen dairy desserts, candy, baked goods, gelatins and puddings.
Oil distilled from the flowers is used in the perfume industry as a fixative and as fragrance in soaps, detergents, creams and lotions.
Clary sage in your garden provides a strong, musky scent, which can be pleasant or unpleasant, according to your preferences.
Pettersen, who grows it, says it has hairy grayish, wrinkled leaves 6 to 9 inches long. During its second year of growth, white, pale purple or lavender flowers 1 inch long appear in bracts along a 3- to 5-foot stalk. It blooms all summer long. The Turkish variety of clary sage is an especially showy variety.
If you have or want a ``moon garden,'' clary sage is recommended by Pettersen, because of its luminous flowers and silver-gray foliage.
Pettersen recommends that you sow seed indoors now. Outdoors it will self seed, especially in sandy soil. Plant in full sun and space plants 10 inches apart in well-drained soil. Wet soil causes root rot. Do not mulch with anything except sand or gravel. Slugs and snails may eat holes in the leaves so plan to control them. Cut off faded flower stalks after blooming has ended. This sometimes will promote a second smaller bloom stalk and will help the plant come back for a third season.
There is more than one sage with the name ``clary.'' Annual clary sage grows only one season, with showy flower bracts in various colors. Meadow clary sage is a perennial wildflower from Europe with purple blue-flowers. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ROBERT STIFFLER
Clary sage has a variety of uses, culinary and medicinal.
Graphic
ALL ABOUT HERBS
To learn more about growing herbs, there's a new book titled
``The Herb Gardener: A Guide for All Seasons'' (Storey
Communications, hardcover, $29.95). It is said to be the only book
gardeners - experienced or not - need to have for successful herb
growing throughout the year.
Any bookstore can order it for you or call Storey at (800)
441-5700.
KEYWORDS: WEEDER'S DIGEST by CNB