Sanguisorba minor
Salad burnet
Common names: Small burnet
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 25 cm, rows 30 cm
- Lifespan
- Perennial
- Sowing
- Apr, May, Aug
- Harvest
- Apr–Oct
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −18 °C
- Water need
- Low
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Description
Salad burnet has finely feathered leaves that taste subtly of cucumber and nut, making it a perfect addition to Frankfurt's green sauce. This hardy, evergreen perennial provides fresh green foliage even in mild winters.
Care instructions
Plant salad burnet in a sunny spot with well‑draining, calcareous soil; it tolerates dry conditions well. Harvest young, tender leaves regularly and remove flower heads to encourage fresh growth. The plant will readily self‑seed in suitable locations.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingApr–May, Aug
HarvestApr–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 8 °C, ideally 15 °C
- Days to sprout
- 10 to 21 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
sandy, loamy, well-drained, dry, lean, lime-loving
Salad burnet likes loose, chalky and free-draining soil; poor, rather dry loamy soils are ideal. It avoids heavy, waterlogged or heavily fertilised soils; in a container or raised bed, use low-nutrient compost and mix in a little lime if the soil is acidic.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar
Outdoors on a poor site, salad burnet needs practically no feeding. Only in a container or raised bed do you work in a thin layer of mature compost shallowly in spring. Avoid nitrogen-heavy feeding; too many nutrients worsen the aroma and make the plant soft and more frost-tender.
Overwintering
Salad burnet is a robust, perennial herbaceous plant and survives winter in Central Europe outdoors without protection. The foliage often stays evergreen, so you can harvest leaves even in the cold season; in a container, place the pot in a sheltered spot against a wall so that it does not freeze through completely.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Division
The easiest way to propagate salad burnet is by sowing: salad burnet is a light germinator. Only press the seeds in and cover them at most with a very thin layer of soil, otherwise they germinate poorly. Sow from April into summer directly outdoors in their final position, or start them on the windowsill from March and plant out after the last frosts. The germination temperature is about 15 to 20 °C, and germination takes around 1 to 3 weeks depending on the warmth. Keep the seed evenly moist until emergence. If you let a few flower heads ripen, salad burnet also reliably self-seeds from the second year. The fallen seeds overwinter and germinate the following spring.
You can divide older, strong plants in spring (March/April) or autumn (September/October): dig up the rootstock completely, divide it into several segments with a sharp spade, each with enough roots and shoot buds, and plant the pieces immediately in new positions. Water the divisions in well after planting. Division rejuvenates the mother plant at the same time and keeps the stand vigorous.
Companion planting
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 Salad burnet yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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