After three years in the same small pot this sage burst into bloom. I have no idea what came over it. Perhaps it feels that its life is threatened.Like the theory of, Beat the magnolias, and they will bloom. I have no idea where I first read that story...somebody beating their magnolias in the South in frustration and then they bloomed. Plants produce salicylic acid (hello, aspirin) to ward of attack by pathogens - could it be that this was the case and that the immune boosting response made the plants flower, to reproduce before they die? A woman, an ass and walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they be. In some versions the ass is a dog.
Ah, the old days. Asses, dogs, women and walnuts, unite.
But I digress. The flowers are very pretty, and I fear that all the oomph has gone from leaves to flowers, and will see what happens after I cut them back [update: it died, in the next winter!]. I just can't bring myself to do that yet. Sage is a hot commodity in my kitchen: Crispy leaves for topping ravioli with brown butter, slow-simmered leaves for abbacchio a la Romana, snipped raw leaves for a risotto.
I too have sage in a balcony pot that has overwintered outside (which stunned me in and of itself as I live in Toronto), but now has developed the prettiest flowers. I am enjoying the sight of them very much and do hope they don't dilute the effect of the leaves.
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