Jessaka,

It depends on how well-drained the soil is. If the soil drains well and you don't see prolonged puddling on the surface of the soil, your Russian Sage should be OK if the ground just stays wet for a couple of days. However, if the ground drains slowly and prolonged puddling or ponding of water occurs, it might be better to put it back in a pot and keep it drier for a few days.

In its native setting Russian sage grows on gravelly or rocky soil that is very well drained.

Dawn

thanks. i will keep an eye on it. our entire land slopes, and so it is at the top of the slope. no puddling or ponding. the last cooking type sage was at the bottom of the slope, and oops---dead. well, one thing i do have is rocks in my soil. jessaka

Hey Jess,

You also have LOTS of moisture. (smile)

And, did you know that soil with lots of rocks tends to be very fertile soil because it is higher in mineral content!

Dawn

i didn't know that it was more fertile. i wondered why everything was green here when it is mostly rock. thanks for that info.

Dawn, How does rocks in soil make the land more fertile? Do the rocks have to break down first, or do minerals from rocks leach out? Thanks.

Jess,

The rocks have been there a long time, assuming that you haven't recently hauled them in and they have broken down over time (thousands of years). I don't think minerals would leach from the rocks at an appreciable amount, but I am not sure about that.

My brother has extremely rocky soil in Texas--just white limestone held together with caliche' clay, and you wouldn't believe how well stuff (trees, shrubs, vines, berry brambles and perennials) grows in that rocky soil. The exception, of course, is veggies....we had to double dig the veggie garden, haul out the rocks, and haul in a dumptruck load of compost. So, to look at it, the rocky soil seems like "bad" soil, but it is almost always really good, fertile soil.

And, for as much as I complain about clay soil, it is really a very fertile soil for the same reason--high mineral content. Once you add some organic material to the clay soil so that oxygen, water and roots can move around in that clay, it is very, very fertile.

Dawn

thanks. that makes sense. i often wondered why it looked like a jungle here and all we had was rocks and a little soil.

by the way my russian sage made it though the rains in great shape.

You're welcome. I'm glad to hear the sage survived. You've had more than enough rain lately!

Dawn