Friday, October 21, 2011

Blooming in the Garden ~ Pineapple Sage

Around here the Pineapple Sage plant is in full bloom in late fall.  Not only does this plant have a fabulous pineapple fragrance but it has these stunning red blossoms that  attract nectar loving birds.   It is glorious as it delicately flows in the breeze.  It is considered a tender perennial here in the North, since it won't survive our winter.  We have planted it in the ground and probably won't dig it up to bring indoors for the winter since it is close to 4 feet tall.  We treat it more as an annual and will simple plant another next spring.   We use the pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) as an edible flower and particularly enjoy its flavor in sorbets.   The red tubular flowers are pretty and tasty sprinkled on salads as well.

5 comments:

Marilyn Miller said...

I love all salvia's, but hadn't thought about them being edible. I have a blue one in my window box by my dining room and love watching the hummingbirds visit there.

La Tea Dah said...

This is such a fragrant herb. I harvested mine last week and dried the leaves for winter use. I probably won't winter mine over either, although it is already in a pot. It's hard to find room for everything in a warm place during the cold days of winter.

Steph said...

It's lovely!

Donna and Miss Spenser said...

I've never seen a blooming "sage" of any kind! So pretty. Do you let it bloom in the fall all or year long?? Does the blooming affect its taste? Curious?? Donna

Angela McRae said...

I don't think I've ever had any edible flowers on my tea table (except dried lavender, if that counts), but these look and sound just lovely!