How to divide salvia nemorosa (sage)

Salvia nemorosa ‘Blue Hills’ is a perennial much appreciated for the blue color of its flowers. In this article we will know how to divide Salvia nemorosa commonly known as sage.

Crinkled green leaves form a perfect backdrop for the main attraction of these salvias that enchant us with blue flowers during the summer months.

This plant, also known as Salvia ‘Blauhügel’, is an herbaceous perennial that forms a cluster of green foliage.
It produces small erect stems with dense terminal spike-like clusters of small blue-violet flowers in early summer.

In the garden, these clumps or tufts should be divided every three years to improve vigor.

In this guide, we are going to demonstrate how to do multiple divisions and get new plants from a pot where three tufts have grown in a year.

The original salvia nemorosa (sage) plants to be divided in flower

Although they are still small plants, they have been growing in the pot for a year with the intention of propagating the variety.
So we can make several divisions more easily and then plant in larger groups in the garden.

If you will plant the divisions directly in the garden, prepare the soil by adding a little slow-release fertilizer, organic matter, or decomposed manure.

The three tufts of salvia nemorosa (sage) to split

In this case, we will plant the small divisions in containers to strengthen the plants before planting in the garden. We prepared a generic potting compost, with organic matter and coarse sand to improve drainage.

Dividing Salvia nemorosa (Sage)

Remove the plant from the pot by carefully turning it upside down.

Turning the salvia pot upside down to release the plant

Loosening the soil from the roots I can easily separate the three original tufts. This way I can work better.

The three original Salvia tufts

Then, with my hands, I separate and divide the tufts into several smaller pieces.

It’s very easy, each segment has to have good roots and some leaves. The more roots each new plant has, the better chance it will survive and grow vigorously.

Separate and divide the Salvias into several smaller pieces

In this case it was quite easy to loosen the roots of each division and separate each new plant. This is because the soil was quite loose and easy to handle.

Several Salvia (sage) divisions

However, when we are dividing large plants that have been growing for 3 or 4 years in the garden, the task is not so easy. We may need to use pitchforks and cutting tools to divide the plants.

Keep in mind that when dividing large plants to plant in the garden, you should split them in bigger pieces and make sure each division has several shoots. Here we are creating small plants that will still grow in a nursery.