Today's Salvias of the Day is Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans).

This plant can be found in the ATP Plant Database at:
Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) .

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Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)

I grow Salvia elegans in my herb garden. It is not a demanding plant. In the fall vivid red flowers emerge at the tips of the stems. I use the flowers in salads for a juicy pineapple taste. The foliage has a great pineapple scent. Layering the foliage and then a layer of sugar in a sealed jar for a few weeks can flavor sugar and give it a nice pineapple scent. It has overwintered for me when I cut the plant back and place a healthy amount of ground up oak leaves over the root system before the ground freezes. I know your not supose to cover plants until the ground freezes but I find by covering the plants before it keeps them warmer and I have had success with rosemary and stevia overwintering the same way.

I was very eager to grow pineapple sage this spring, but unfortunately I think I chose a place that was just a bit too shady. It grew quite large and bushy but is only just now blooming! Well, next year I'll know better!

Treehugger, that's very interesting that you've been able to overwinter it with extra mulch! I think it might be worth moving mine to a sunnier spot before attempting to do this...

I'm amazed by the information about overwintering. I always grow this plant in my garden, but I have to replace it after every winter that veers closer to zone 8b rather than my official zone 9a (which is their minimum hardiness zone). I guess we "zone-9ers" are so spoiled that we take no overwintering precautions on any plant. That's hardly a problem, however, because I can always find them in spring for $2.59 at Ace Hardware and start over. They grow quickly and start blooming in summer, continuing through fall. They smell great, in contrast to some salvias, and the blooms are quite vivid.

A plant-friend was moving and Pineapple Sage was one of the plants she gave me. The good news is that the plant came back for me in the spring with no extra care other than being in a raised bed under a very tall Pine tree and having a layer of mulch. I agree with @Catmint20906 that it needs more sun than I provided.

treehugger said:I grow Salvia elegans in my herb garden. It is not a demanding plant. In the fall vivid red flowers emerge at the tips of the stems. I use the flowers in salads for a juicy pineapple taste. The foliage has a great pineapple scent. Layering the foliage and then a layer of sugar in a sealed jar for a few weeks can flavor sugar and give it a nice pineapple scent. It has overwintered for me when I cut the plant back and place a healthy amount of ground up oak leaves over the root system before the ground freezes. I know your not supose to cover plants until the ground freezes but I find by covering the plants before it keeps them warmer and I have had success with rosemary and stevia overwintering the same way.

@treehugger

I too am amazed that you've been able to overwinter it with putting grounded up oak leaves. How tall is it after you cut the plant? How many inches of the oak leaves?

Good for you!

I usually pot my Pineapple Sage into large containers and just get a new plant the following year, but I'm going to keep in mind your technique.

Hey, did y'all notice that Pineapple Sage was listed at the top of the thread besides Salvia of the Day? Dave said he was going to try and set it up, so that the common name would show up also when it wasn't a "named" salvia.

@greene

That's great!

Pineapple Sage is a wonderful salvia. Mine started blooming September 20 this year.

I love those wonderfully, fragrant leaves and I love those gorgeous, red flowers! One year I grew both elegans and golden leaf ('Golden Delicious') varieties.

The plant needs short days to blossom, it is just blooming now in October in my zone 7/8 garden. I will try the mulch trip, this is its first year. Also am trying cuttings indoors but the first two didn't take. I'll try again.

You are right it can be bought up here where I live for a very cheep price. I use to overwinter it in my home by a sunny window but I now have a home with no friendly houseplant windows. I cut back most of my plants to about 3 or 4 inches and when I'm in the mood cover plants with maybe 3" of ground up foliage. I think this works when we have move snow cover all winter but I have never realy taken notice. I think when there is a good root system it will come back from the root. Many plants I grow come back this way, thank goodness plants can't read to find out how they are supose to act.

I did not realize that pineapple sage was a fall bloomer! That's good to know.

my plant just now in full bloom

Late to the party as usual
I have a love/ hate relationship with this plant .Love the smell and vivid red flowers , hate it just about hits full bloom and gets frosted off.

Thank you, Judy for helping me understand why it waits so very long to bloom. for years I have tried many things to get it to bloom earlier with almost no success.

I have herd hummingbirds love this plant but my birds leave for warmer places before the plant blooms

No hummingbirds around here either in mid-October!

We saw one or two today and we were seeing them a few days ago. In between, nothing. Hopefully, we'll see at least one tomorrow.

Thanks Treehugger for the info!

Well I posted my reply in the wrong place- under the "Golden Delicious" pineapple sage post. For those of you who, like me, would like to see earlier blooms, there is one called "Honey Melon" pineapple sage with the same bright red blooms, green leaves, and is supposed to bloom earlier and longer but does not get quite as large. I am going to try that one next year.

I just searched the database and the variety I mentioned is there under "Salvia Elegans Honey Melon"- I wasn't sure how to post a direct link.

Honey Melon in ATP database:
Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans 'Honeydew Melon')

Judy, to provide a direct link to a particular photo, click on the photo you like, and then above the photo where it says ATP BB Code, highlight and copy the part in brackets, eg db_photo]238619[/db_photo (beginning and ending brackets not copied here, because then you wouldn't see the example! Then paste that into your post here, and voila!!


I had trouble figuring it out at first, too, but then once someone showed me, I saw how super quick and easy it is! Good luck!!

@Catmint20906
I appreciate the help. I am still fairly new here!