Well, not officially, but my plants which resemble jungle foliage finally kicked up these wild-looking inflorescences on which little lentil-shaped buds unfurled in these claw-looking things.
I have a feeling Salvia sclarea would take over the backyard and plot a revolution, if I let it.
Anyway, I went outside w/ sharpened clippers and removed the inflorescences with actual blooms on them, leaving the rest to continue growing and maturing. Into a jar of grape alcohol they went, and will stay until they get translucent and brittle like flowers usually do. Then I’ll remove those and add the next bunch of matured blooms, etc.
I’ve never grown clary before, although I’m familiar with the essential oil as an ingredient in perfumery. Truth be told, I am not overly fond of its smell, even when I have a sample of a better distillation. It tends towards muddy, faintly green, and sure it is weirdly balsamic and almost resinous, but… meh. One gets a faint blurred impression of the plant it was produced from in that ‘animal, vegetable, or mineral?’ sort of way.
That being said, these are the strangest flowers I’ve ever smelled. Clary sage is a giant puzzle box of an aromatic plant. The blooming inflorescences are by turns sharp, peppery, sweet white flowers, pineapple (I am not kidding), and tar-like resin more suited to something like a pine tree. Clary is a friendly plant until it blooms, when it becomes rather secretive and just plain weird. Hm.
I also carefully pulled up the fully-ripened and swiftly drying out peshawar poppies, root, stalk, capsule and all. These are going to hang upside down in the garage to dry out completely.
6 Responses to “today was clary sage day”
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Ahh, I’m jealous. I’ve wanted to grow my own clary sage for the longest time, but finding a place it wouldn’t be baked dry in Florida was always a challenge. Now I’m finally moving to North Carolina and real seasons, but in late fall! Always a catch, lol.
i like weird. the blooms are beautiful.
mine just pushed out buds! cant wait..i am keeping them in pots for now..
To me this is the most underrated plant in the witch’s lexicon. In many ways it reminds me of the structuralist idea of what is not said being the most important–that meaning is in the gaps. Clary sage, being so not talked about or referred to, makes me wonder if it has not historically been vitally important to witchcraft in Europe. It has few medicinal uses and even is often conflated with Salvia pratensis. I am very much looking forward to working with my clary sage plants this year and learning more from its spirit.
@ Harry, have a feeling that clary is one of those plants that magic workers and witches regarded as somewhat of a philosopher’s stone, and by that I am talking about workers who did not necessarily have any contact with alchemists, and did not refer to their practice as Great Work. You’re on to something with this being extremely important and yet seldom mentioned.
@ faustian, smell it at all the different stages… It sure evolves.
@ Pallas, would you like some seeds to grow this? It is perennial and I planted my thicket last July, starting with germinating in jiffy pellets on a patio that baked all summer. It’s definitely a social plant, and likes to be in a throng. I think I have 5 crammed into a brick planter that gets baked like hell in the summers, but because the plant itself is pretty leafy and dense, it creates its own shade.
@ jonquil, weird is where it is at, sometimes
Wow..its taking its own sweet time! Still waiting…
Meanwhile..the herbal corner is bursting with blooms….I could recognize clary sage, white sage, chamomile, motherwort and cinquefoil(so pretty!)…as for the rest, I have become the clueless gardener who wasn’t smart enough to stick name pegs. Many of them, I thought were dead..somehow they came back. It certainly has a mugwort and a wormwood..both not flowering..and I can I.d them..wondering if it’s st johns wort. Other non flowering..I don’t even know. Don’t think I can tear them out now..what if its interesting?
And oh…You would like to know..I got a baby ylang ylang which died on me..ditto re two neem saplings..but the third one looks hopeful!
And I am trying to grow a baobab from seed…there Is a story..:) will tell later…back in a few hours!