Salvia elegans
Pineapple sage
Common names: Pineapple-scented sage
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 50 cm, rows 60 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Harvest
- Jun–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 0 °C
- Water need
- Medium
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Pineapple sage, botanically Salvia elegans, originates from the mountain forests of Mexico and Guatemala and is not frost-hardy in temperate regions, where it is grown as a tub plant. It grows as an upright subshrub 60 to 120 cm tall. Its light green, tapering leaves smell of pineapple when crushed. The brilliant scarlet, tubular flowers open late in the year, usually from September, and last until the first frosts. When many summer flowers have faded, bumblebees, bees, and butterflies visit the sage. Leaves and flowers can be used in the kitchen: the flowers have a fruity, mild taste and decorate salads, desserts, and drinks, while the leaves add a pineapple note to fruit salad, punch, and syrup. The selection 'Honey Melon' smells more of honeydew melon.
Care instructions
Place pineapple sage outdoors in a full sun, warm, and wind-sheltered spot only after the Ice Saints in mid-May, either in a tub or for one summer in a bed. Water regularly once the top layer of soil has dried, daily on hot days in a tub, but do not let water stand in the saucer. Pinch back the shoot tips once or twice in early summer to encourage a bushy habit. It flowers only as the days shorten, so be patient: flowers usually do not open before September, which is normal. Remove spent blooms. Bring the tub indoors in October before the first frost. In winter quarters, check for whiteflies and spider mites; a cool, airy location helps prevent them. Rinse off infested shoots with water.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJun–Oct
FloweringSep–Oct
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, humus-rich, nutrient-rich
Pineapple sage grows best in loose, humus-rich, well-drained soil with a medium to high nutrient content. In a container, use good-quality container plant compost with a little sand mixed in, and put a drainage layer of gravel at the bottom of the pot. In the bed, work in mature compost before planting. Standing wet, especially in winter quarters, quickly makes the roots rot. On heavy soils, a container is therefore the better choice.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
May–Aug
In a container, feed from May to August about every two weeks with a liquid fertiliser for flowering plants, which you add to the watering water. In the bed, mature compost in spring is enough, and if needed diluted nettle feed is added in summer. From September, stop feeding so that the shoots ripen before you move it indoors. Too much nitrogen produces plenty of foliage and few flowers.
Pruning
In spring, when no more hard frosts threaten and new shoots appear, cut pineapple sage back by a third to a half, if possible just above a pair of leaves. This makes it branch and form more flowering shoots in autumn. Remove frozen and dried-out shoots completely. If you shorten the shoot tips once more in early summer, it becomes bushier; later cuts push the flowering back.
Overwintering
Pineapple sage is not hardy; even light frost turns the leaves black. Bring the container indoors in October before the first night frost and shorten the shoots by a third. It overwinters bright at 5 to 10 °C, for example in a frost-free stairwell or conservatory. Water only enough that the root ball does not dry out, and do not feed. Check regularly for whiteflies and spider mites. In the bed it rarely survives the winter, even under a thick mulch layer, so take cuttings in late summer.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
The easiest way to propagate pineapple sage is by cuttings. In August or September, or in spring if necessary, cut non-flowering shoot tips 10 to 15 cm long just below a pair of leaves, remove the lower leaves and insert them in sandy seed compost or in a glass of water. In a bright, warm place out of full sun they form roots in two to four weeks. Overwinter the rooted young plants like the old plants, bright at 5 to 10 °C, and put them outside in May. Seed is only rarely available in the trade, and plants grown from seed flower only late in the year.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
nightshade family (Solanaceae)
particularly well establishedYou will find that basil next to tomato and pepper improves taste and keeps whiteflies and aphids away.
For example PotatoTomatoSweet pepperCocktail tomatoEggplantCape gooseberry and 14 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
cabbage family (Brassicaceae)
You will notice that the intense scent of basil, thyme, and others confuses the cabbage whitefly and keeps it away from the cabbage family.
For example White cabbageKohlrabiRadishKalebroccolicauliflower and 41 more species in the catalogue
Source: bio-gardening intercropping practice
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Pineapple sage yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
Notes from real gardens
What other gardeners have written down about this variety, anonymous and voluntary.
No notes shared yet. Will you be the first to write one down?