Can you divide russian sage

Consider using gravel or creating a gravel garden with other drought tolerant plants. In the winter landscape it is a visual bonus, offering a ghostly, airy appearance on frosty mornings. In colder northern climates, the plant may die back completely to the ground and can benefit from being cut back in fall after the first frost and lightly mulched for protection with straw or garden debris.

Russian Sage delivers tall, airy spires of lavender-blue color on highly-textured silver-gray foliage to the landscape. A robust plant, Russian Sage performs beautifully in hot, dry Blue Jean Baby' Russian Sage PP is a compact selection of Russian Sage that gives you beautiful lavender-blue spires of late-summer color with a more manageable size in the lan Dividing and Transplanting: With its woody stems and static habit, Russian sage is not a candidate for dividing.

If you wish to propagate new plants, either take stem cuttings from shoots in spring or semi-ripe cuttings with a heel in summer; or look for little offsets at the base of the plant and using clippers and a trowel, remove them and replant. The main concern for the gardener is stem or root rot caused by improperly siting the plant in wet conditions.

Overwintering: Gardeners in northern regions may wish to cut the plant back in the fall after the first frost and mulch with straw to protect it over the winter, taking care to ensure that the plant is not in an area that will collect water over the winter — which will kill it.

Gardeners in warmer regions can let the plant overwinter as is and cut it back in the early spring. It is also marvelous paired with a tall tawny grass like maiden grass Miscanthus spp. Just make sure to allow plenty of room for expansion, as Russian sage loves to stretch its long arms in the garden.

Additional Uses: The foliage and flowers of Russian sage are aromatic, and have a calming effect upon the nervous system. It is used topically in alternative medicine as a fever reducer, and as a tea. Bees love the many flowers of Russian sage, and during the summer it is alive with pollinators — so it makes a great addition to a pollinator-friendly garden.

For those with gardens by the ocean, Russian sage is a great choice as it is salt-tolerant and thrives on poor soils. To learn more about the plants we sell and how to grow them in your garden beds and patio containers, sign up for our inspiring emails. Water the Russian sage immediately, and keep the soil evenly moist for the first season.

After the first season, Russian sage tolerates drought and only needs to be watered occasionally during hot, dry weather. Don't water excessively, as too must moisture can cause the Russian sage to rot. Russian sage divisions can also be planted into patio containers.

Choose a container with a hole in the bottom, and fill the container with commercial potting soil. Plant the Russian sage in the container at the same soil level at which it was planted previously. Keep the soil damp for the first growing season, but don't overwater. Dyer began her writing career as a staff writer at a community newspaper and is now a full-time commercial writer. She writes about a variety of topics, with a focus on sustainable, pesticide- and herbicide-free gardening.

Here's advice from New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension on propagating it: Russian sage may grow roots from the cut stems if the cut base is treated with rooting hormones and the plants are kept in a greenhouse or other humid location while the roots form.

Cuttings from Russian sage will probably be more successful in producing roots if you use cuttings taken in early summer called softwood cuttings rather than winter-pruned stems. Russian sagemay also be propagated from root cuttings. Root cuttings are fairly large roots diameter of a pencil dug from near the base of the shrub and placed in a prepared soil.

If kept moist, they may produce new plants.