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Sage, thats the herb that goes with the onion to make a stuffing for the Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, isnt it? Well thats probably as much as most people think about this most versitile of plants, but thousands of years before Pilgrims sailed to America, and turkeys found their way to the European dinner table, people all over the world were celebrating the healing qualities of the plant. Indeed the very name, Salvia, comes from the Latin "to heal". There is an in joke in the medical community that if you consult enough alternative manuals on the uses of Sage you will find that it is the cure for all known diseases. Sage is no cure-all but does have a wide range of uses.

In the garden theSage is a perennial evergreen shrub that reaches to about 3 feet and produces flowers of pink, white, blue or purple. Good drainage and plenty of sunshine are required and if a cold spell is expected a good mulch should protect the plants enough to ensure their survival. New plants can be propogated from seeds or cuttings and will be well established after about two years. After about four years the plants become woody, less productive and less potent in their effectiveness and so ensure that you have a new set of plants on the go each year so that you can discard the older plants and to ensure the most useful supply of Sage.

Pliny, the Roman naturalist listed its use in association with snakebites, epilepsy, chest ailments and menstruation. In the 10th century Arab physicians believed that it extended life to the point of immortality, an idea that was brought back with the crusading knights and led to the saying " why should a man die when sage grows in his garden?" Its uses were recorded all over the world and through out history, Icelandic herbalists, Dutch explorers and Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions were all aware of its properties.

Toute Bonne, its French name means "alls well" and though this may be over selling its potential it does have a wide range of uses in the healing category. Sage when ingested has also been shown to cut perspiration by 50% in a lot of tested people and so acts as natures anti-perspirant, even being used in over the counter product in Germany. Like many common garden herbs, Sage has an affect on infection causing bacteria and so is useful in dressing wounds . In the past Sage would be bound on to the hand, but in this age of claen water its probably enough to use it as a temporary emergancy cleanser and just wash some into the wound

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