If the soil is heavy and full of clay, they probably won't make it through the winter. That kind of soil can be made more suitable by digging deeply and mixing in large amounts of organic matter, such as decayed manure, compost or humus and some sand or coal ashes. S. officinalis, the herb Sage, should be grown in full sun in well-drained soil. Cut in the morning after the dew has dried, but before the heat of the afternoon. Sage will recover from heavy cutting.
Fresh sage has better flavor than dried.
Use in either form of stuffings or with cheese, egg, or vegetable dishes. Snip off and dry the whole flowering stems of older plants for decorative use. S. elegans, the Pineapple Sage, is grown in well-drained soil in full sun. Mix in pre-plant fertilizer, but don t feed them later in the season. In northern regions, where blooming starts only a few days before autumn frost, you can prune back the plants severely in late summer and divide and pot them to bring inside for bloom in October and November and irregularly throughout the winter.