The "Other" Sage

  A few years back, I was sad to see that my pineapple sage did not make it through the winter.  We had a few hard freezes and lots of rains so I think that is what caused the problems.  The ground stayed soggy and then the cold weather froze everything.  After that incident, I hopefully learned a lesson on growing the plant.  Water the plant often but never let those roots wade around in soggy dirt!  

  This summer, my sweet sister-in-law, Linda, sent me a new "start" of the pineapple sage.  I pondered sticking in the garden but then had flashbacks to the dead plant of winters past.  Nope.  this sage would be in a pot so it can head to the greenhouse when Jack Frost comes to visit.  Old Man Winter cannot have all of my herbs!   Now the sage is growing like a bad weed and has finally decided to bloom.  Normally, pineapple sage blooms in the late fall but I think our winter confuses everything.  Not that I am complaining as it adds some happy color to the drab winter garden.  

  This evening a happy coincident occurred.  While I was studying some herbal remedies, a few notes on pineapple sage came my attention.  It seems that scientists are studying the herb and its ability to help with memory issues and with anxiety.  While I don't tend to be bothered with anxiety, age is creeping up on me and the memory may start dulling.  If this plant can help with that, you can be sure that there will always be one (or many) growing around here.  A good cup of sage tea or a few leaves and blooms in fruit salad may just become regular things around here.   So...it is good for you, tastes and smells delightfully similar to pineapple and can help me think.  Sounds like a good plant to me!