I grow culinary sage in my 6a garden. I think of it as a 'subshrub' , halfway between a shrub & a perennial. I have it teamed with alchemilla mollis & they bloom at the same time:
The above is not the best picture (I really do need to do something about a camera!) but I think you can get the idea. The two bloom at the same time & the frothiness of the blossoms interact well together.
I love having culinary sage in my garden & cut it all year long for cooking in the kitchen. Even in the dead of winter you will see sets of footprints in the snow from my backdoor to the sage 'bush'! Sometimes I have to unearth the leaves to snip a few for the night's meal.
