Sage (Salvia officinalis)

Perennial. Easily grown from seed and, whatever its eventual use in the kitchen, it is a glorious addition to a garden. Its bluish-purple flowers share the beauty and the form of those of the other labiates but, larger than most, are particularly spectacular against their gray-green background of soft downy leaves. Its name and its history are synonymous with good health—sage has often, during the last couple of millenniums, been considered a cure-all and sometimes been thought to beget immortality.