Jerusalem sage
Phlomis russeliana ·
Whorls of hooded, soft yellow flowers are stacked in tiers up stiff stems above large, felted, heart-shaped leaves. The seed heads stand all winter.
- Size
- 3 ft tall, 2½ ft wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to late July
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around Jerusalem sage
The planner designed this bed around Jerusalem sage when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why Jerusalem sage stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Jerusalem sage × 3, yellow
- 2 Common thyme × 5, lavender
- 3 Heath aster 'Snow Flurry' × 4, white
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Sideoats grama × 5, purple
- 7 Blue allium × 12, blue
- 8 Grecian windflower × 12, pink
Why this plant
- The only spires. The others are dense clusters, daisies, airy sprays and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3 ft it is one of the taller plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to sideoats grama (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From mid June to late July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With common thyme, false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and blue allium in late June: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as a cottage garden: 21 of the 21 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The back corners are held by false sunflower 'Summer Nights' and Jerusalem sage, the tallest plants on the plan. The most in flower at one time is 4 kinds, in late June.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Jerusalem sage goes in a border
At 3 ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
Grown as much for its skeleton as its flowers: the tiered seed heads are among the best for winter. The big leaves smother weeds. A staple of naturalistic planting, with grasses.
- Winter seed heads
- Weed-proof groundcover in dry soil
- Naturalistic planting
What to plant with Jerusalem sage
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Salvia 'May Night': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for five weeks; medium leaves against its bold ones.
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': in flower together for seven weeks, from mid June; fine leaves against its bold ones; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
- Blue oat grass: in flower together for four weeks, from mid June; fine leaves against its bold ones; a low mound at the foot of its spires.
Questions about Jerusalem sage
Does Jerusalem sage need sun or shade?
Jerusalem sage grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does Jerusalem sage grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Jerusalem sage flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to late July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Mid June to late July |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid June to late July |
| Zone 7 | Early June to mid July |
| Zone 8 | Early June to mid July |
| Zone 9 | Late May to mid July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should Jerusalem sage be planted?
24 in (60 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 2½ ft (75 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3 ft (90 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Jerusalem sage plants do I need?
At 24 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 3 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 6 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 10 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
What flowers after Jerusalem sage?
Jerusalem sage is over by late July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Japanese anemone: from mid August to early October, 3 ft tall.
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Garden phlox: from mid July to early September, 3½ ft tall.
What does Jerusalem sage look like in winter?
Jerusalem sage holds some of its leaves into winter, more in a mild year or a sheltered spot, and they look tired by March. Cut the old ones off as new growth starts.
More Phlomis
- Tuberous Jerusalem sage Phlomis tuberosa
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3 ft (90 cm) tall, 2½ ft (75 cm) wide
- Plant
- 24 in (60 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Mid June to late July; upright spires; yellow
- Leaves
- Bold texture, semi-evergreen; grey-green
- Shape
- Upright, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.