Clary Sage Seed Pack

Best known as an uplifting essential oil, clary sage also has a long history of use in treating digestive complaints and menstrual cycle disorders. 

If you are already a fan of clary sage essential oil, you will love the plants even more. There is something special in the euphoric aromas of the fresh flowers that that simply cannot be captured in a bottle. Our advice is to take a flower, sit back against a tree and breathe her in. 

Clary sage is a biennial, which means that you normally have to wait until the second year for the flowers (but will occasionally flower in the first year). It requires full sunshine and does best in well-drained soil, but otherwise is an adaptable plant that requires little care once established. In full flower it reaches around 1m tall. Make sure you sow new seed every year to ensure you have flowers every year. 

Sowing and Growing 

Either sow seed indoors from early spring to transplant into final growing position by autumn, or sow in late summer to overwinter in the greenhouse and transplant in the spring. The seeds require some light to germinate so do not fully cover with soil and keep moist. 

Clary sage has big leaves that take up a lot of space so make sure you allow at least 50-60cm between plants. 

Uses and Benefits 

 High in Linalyl acetate and linalool, clary sage’s aromatic warmth is used to ease digestive discomfort and menstrual cycle disorders associated with low oestrogen. Its most commonly found as an essential oil and has become renowned for helping to stop menstrual cramps due to its soothing and calming properties. And like sage, it is also used to help transition through the menopasue and especially relieve hot flushes. Its astringency is said to help hold the spirit in place and prevent vitality escaping. 

It used to be known as ‘clear-eye’ as the fluid from the soaked seeds was used to clear dust and obstructions from the eye. We are not recommending you try this at home but the legendary herbalist Nicholas Culpepper named it such and Sclarea does mean ‘clear’, so its meaningful on a few levels. 

Not to be used in pregnancy. 

Harvesting and Preparation 

Harvest the fresh leaves before it flowers. You can eat the youngest ones fresh or have a few leaves as a warm tea- infuse in a covered cup for 10 minutes. If you want to make the essential oil you will need to grow a fair bit as it only yields about 0.3% essential oil from the fresh plant (approx 30 plants for 10ml). 

To dry place the leaves on a drying rack and dry overnight at 35C. Store in an airtight container. 

Minimum 30 seeds per pack.