Pineapple Sage
Salvia elegans

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 per square foot
sunlight requirements: 6 - 14 hours
look out for: aphids and overwatering
harvest notes: harvest flowers for use fresh
perennial

Pineapple sage is a fun tropical sage variety that has leaves that are slightly scented like pineapple, thus the name. While the leaves aren’t commonly used as an herb fresh they are edible and are a good source for things like specialty syrups, or other fragrance based culinary uses. The flowers are also edible and are a beautiful bright red color. While we love this plant we don’t want the word “sage” to confuse you into thinking this plant smells anything like the culinary sage you are familiar with. Sage is the common name for plants in the “salvia” family, and there are tons of them out there, some edible, some not. 

Pollinators like hummingbirds love salvia flowers because of their share and color so take some for projects and leave some for your feathered friends. Pineapple sage is perennial here in our subtropical climate where it won’t get frozen over winter, and is a fun specimen plant in a diverse garden. This salvia variety will propagate itself via underground runners so if you have a wildflower style garden these will slowly spread around and reproduce. You can also easily propagate it via green stem cuttings. When planted in full sun one plant will get about 4 feet tall and around 3 feet wide. 

Photo courtest of nydecay.org