Sage rather than lavender: a quiet star for pollinators

When you walk through garden centres in spring, you see miniature fields of purple lavender everywhere. Lavender is, of course, regarded as a classic choice for insects. Yet in traditional kitchen gardens, another perennial often took pride of place: a tough, long-lived sage that manages without an irrigation system and is considered a quiet pollinator star in dry gardens.

Why gardeners once chose sage rather than lavender alone

In many old farm and country gardens, earlier generations planted a particular perennial sage beside vegetable beds and fruit trees. This was no accident, but based on experience: wherever this perennial grew, the garden buzzed throughout the summer.

Sage flowers provide nectar for wild bees

Its flower shape is the reason. The blooms form in spikes and have the structure of small tubes. They act like tiny nectar reservoirs for:

• wild bees,