I have a common sage plant (perennial, the kind that forms a small, low woody bush; culinary sage...I use the leaves as seasoning) that has been with me for about 10 years. I'm never sure how to prune it. It is getting a lot of dead wood underneath and I try to cut that out to keep it from rotting. I also remove the spent flower heads and whatever dead twigs present themselves. But it's getting very messy and sprawling. Can a sage bush be pruned like other shrubs, to shape it? Can I just get in there and whack it back to stimulate new growth? Or will a rigorous pruning kill it?
