:strip_icc()/101616725_preview-0e60079dda574a38be6e60d8fceef0f1.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1209&ssl=1 "10 Best Plants to Grow with Sage to Reduce Garden Pests")
Most gardeners grow culinary sage for its aromatic leaves, which can be used to flavor roasted dishes, soups, and other savory treats, but sage is a versatile herb that can also be cultivated as an ornamental or interplanted in containers or vegetable gardens as a pest-repelling companion plant. If you want to naturally deter pests like cabbage loopers and flea beetles, here are 10 companion plants that grow even better next to sage.
Brassicas
Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, radishes, mustard greens, and other members of the brassica family are commonly targeted by nuisance pests like cabbage moths and loopers. You can naturally repel these pest insects and keep your brassicas from being riddled with holes by planting sage near your brassica crops.
Sage grows as a perennial in most areas, so you might need to work around it when you’re seeding your veggie garden in spring.
Lavender
Sage and lavender plants both love full sun and well-draining soil, so it’s no surprise that these herbs grow well together in the garden. Depending on your style and gardening space, you can keep lavender and sage in roomy pots, interplant them with perennial flowers, or grow them in a dedicated herb bed. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is the best lavender to grow for edible use, but you can also pair ornamental lavenders with colorful tricolor or purple sage for classic cottage garden flair.
Strawberries
Sweet and succulent strawberries are irresistible to many garden pests, but companion planting with sage can help. Aromatic sage leaves repel certain pests, but they also mask the sweet scent of strawberries and make it harder for pests to find their quarry. If you’re gardening in a small space, try growing sage and strawberries in pots or plant strawberries beneath your sage plants as a weed-suppressing groundcover.
Oregano
Marty Baldwin
Like sage, oregano is a Mediterranean herb that thrives in well-draining, sandy soil and lots of sun. Planting oregano and sage together in the same bed or pot can streamline plant care since these two herbs have the same basic care needs and don’t need much water. However, oregano is a slightly smaller plant, so you may want to grow it on the perimeter or south side of your garden to keep it from being overshadowed by taller sage.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are often grown with borage for hornworm control or cilantro for spider mites, but if your tomatoes are plagued by flea beetles, try growing them with sage instead. Not only do sage leaves repel flea beetles, but you can use fresh sage to flavor homemade spaghetti sauce when harvest time arrives.
Beans
Thanks to their nitrogen-fixing roots, beans are excellent companions for most vegetables and herbs, and sage plants are no exception. Planting sage near beans can enhance the growth of your herbs and encourage sage to produce more leaves for harvesting. For best results, leave the bean roots in the beds at the end of the season so they can add even more nitrogen to the soil.
Carrots
While sage repels flea beetles and cabbage loopers, that’s not all this herb can do. Planting sage near carrots can also deter destructive carrot flies, which bore holes and tunnels in carrot roots and can ruin an entire crop. In return, long carrot roots help to break up and aerate tough soils, making it easier for sage plants to grow.
Rosemary
Edward Gohlich
Rosemary is another Mediterranean herb with the same basic care needs as sage. However, this tender plant isn’t as cold-hardy as sage, so growers in cooler areas must overwinter rosemary indoors in pots or replace their rosemary plants each spring. Keeping these two pest-repelling herbs together can increase your garden’s natural pest resistance. Rosemary plants also attract pollinators and predatory insects if you let them flower.
Parsley
Parsley is an undemanding plant that gets along with most vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and it grows beautifully with sage. These two herbs are relatively compact, allowing you to grow them in pots or larger beds, depending on your available growing space. However, parsley is technically a biennial (meaning it completes its life cycle in 2 years), and you’ll need to replant parsley seeds every year or two to keep the parsley harvest coming.
Roses
Matthew Benson
Flea beetles and other pests regularly target roses and chew unsightly holes through rose leaves. If you grow sage plants in your flower garden, you can naturally protect your rose bushes from damage and enjoy the rich scent of sage while you’re harvesting roses for homemade bouquets. Tricolor and purple sages look particularly charming beside roses, especially if you allow your sage plants to bloom.