It does look like Salvia officinalis, culinary sage.

I agree. Have you crushed a leaf to test for culinary sage's distinctive odor?

It smells like sage but I didn't know if inedible varieties smell the same. It smells greener than my dried herb of course. I wonder what would happen if I ate the wrong variety. ;)

You're in for a treat if you aren't used to fresh sage. Sage, Rosemary, Coriander. I could just sit in a patch of that for hours. Yours looks just like common culinary sage.

If you are worried you have the psychoactive salvia divinorum, it is definitely not. They look very different, and divinorum does not have a wonderful 'sage herb' scent to it at all.

Thanks, bardamu! That makes me feel better! :) It has been 10 years since I grew my own sage. Looking forward to having it in my garden again.

This post was edited by AbbyU on Sun, Apr 14, 13 at 21:45

S. divinorum wouldn't survive a zone 6 winter. Zone 6 rules out some of the other Salvias as well.

I agree - looks like the culinary sage. You will love the blooms. They are a blue-violet. Give the plant full sun and EXCELLENT drainage. Once it has gotten over the transplant shock, it probably won't need to be watered again if you have planted it in the ground. Best to err on the side of too little water rather than too much with this one.

FataMorgana

Thanks for the tips, FataMorgana! I want to prune it also after it settles. I rescued it from an area overgrown with weeds, so it is very leggy and all the green is at the tips. I think I'm a zone 7 regardless of what the maps say because of what I can grow here... I even have tropical ginger that survives here.

Glad to help. It should like the sun and warmth or your location quite a bit but just so you know, sage does survive quite nicely even in my frosty zone! :)

FataMorgana