Why is my Sage dying?

[Peggy Sue]

A friend gave me a spring of sage a few years back and I stuck it in the ground not expecting much. It grew so much I had to chop it right back, and back it came again so I decided to move it from the veggie plot due to lack of room.

I dug it up and put it into a new herb border I created. The soil is heavy clay so I put in some peat mixed with horse manure. The raspberry, corriander, marjorum, oregano, chives and garlic all thrived. The sage was OK for a month or so then the leaves started to turn yellow, now they are shrivling up and dying. This is a fairly substantial plant I can't think whats wrong. The soil is not that much different from the veg plot 3 years ago when I put it in as a twig with no roots. Its got an extensive root system now.

Any tips welcome??

[mybarnconversion]

It's probably drowning if you've had as much rain as we have recently

Perhaps the soil is too good for it / roots not properly bedded or damaged when it was dug up / the new location has too much or too little sun ... or any combination of these!

I've often lost plants that I thought I was moving to a better location only for the 'ungrateful' sods to die (can a plant be grateful ?)

[Peggy Sue]

Probably the rain then, we have had 'plenty' as have most of the UK! I guess there's not much I can do then but hope for a drought!!

[Jandra]

Be careful what you wish for.... you might get it.

On the topic of sage: I've had a bad experiece transplanting a mature sage. Perhaps they simply don't like to move house once they're established?

Jandra

[Peggy Sue]

Maybe I need to take another twig and start again...

[Cassiepod]

I do know that sages grow and get woody so you need to take cuttings every few years to get a fresh leafy plant anyway.

I've just snaffled some stems off my mum's to see if I can get any roots off them. I had amazing success with five rosemary stems which sat in water on the windowledge for about a month and a half! sheer laziness on my part not putting them into pots immediately.

[Millymollymandy]

I've never transplanted a sage but mine too got enormous so I chopped back a huge amount of it last autumn. Now it is twice as big and swamping all the other plants around it!

[farmerdrea]

Sage tends to get woody and die back every 3-4 years, so it'd pay to take another cutting and get it going for next year. We LOVE sage, always have it growing.

Andrea
NZ

[Peggy Sue]

Thanks for the advice- I've taken three cuttings this weekend form the healthier bits so hopefully these will replace my 'aged' bush.

[hedgewitch]

Sage hates to have soggy roots so you may want to create better drainage conditions by adding some gravel to the soil.

The cuttings are always a good idea too

[Peggy Sue]

mmm, the garden is heavy clay so with all this rain I expect it is suffering. We have been here 4 years and have really worked hard on the veggie plot but haven't really done much except annual manure on the rest so as a new border I guess it was a bit of a shock to the poor thing. I did put peat and manure in but these aren't great for drainage either....I think I killed the Thyme the same way earleir this year.