Started Meadow Sage at the wrong time — lessons learned

I planted Meadow Sage at entirely the wrong point in the growing calendar and spent the first few months wondering what I'd done wrong. poor germination in compacted or clay soils didn't help matters. Once I understood scarifying or scratching the soil before sowing for seed contact things improved substantially.

self-seeding and naturalising without annual replanting is what makes this plant worth persisting with. In a roadside or verge planting in a community space it finally looks as good as I'd imagined. peak flowering from early to midsummer redeemed the whole effort. If you're starting out: do your timing research before you plant.