LOL! I just re-read my own message, and have vowed not to post before my morning coffee in the future. :-) I'm looking for flowering SAGE that is also good for cooking, not basil!

-Katy

How about Pineapple sage (Salvia elegans)? It's a beautiful plant that can get quite large and shrubby. There are now various cultivars of it including one with golden leaves called "Golden Delicious". This is what the one I bought last year looked like (you can see a tiny flower that had started on it then since it was apparently propagated via cuttings and greenhouse-forced for the Proven Selections brand):

As it grows, it still pretty much kept that color for the leaves too:

The flowers (it's a late bloomer) are an intense red that any leftover hummers that you might have still migrating in fall, would like (it flowers like other subtropical sages, with an inflorescence with multiple, good-sized tubular flowers along it). The leaves are definitely strongly pineapple in scent and are edible (can also be steeped to make a tea). You would use like a mint (since sages are part of that family if I'm not mistaken). You may even be able to overwinter it where you are as during mild winters and with a good microclimate and excellent drainage, as Zone 7 (and even a few Zone 6) hummer lovers have reported some success overwintering these in the ground in protected, well-drained spots (where the stems would be left in place through winter and resprouting occured at the woody base and the dead tops were only then removed after it sprouted). Since I can only do pots (balcony only), I have tried overwintering indoors and have been able to get them to until about February or March and then the spider mites get them... I probably should have let it go dormant in my cool bedroom where I have put other overwintering plants including some warm temperates...

I have seen the local nurseries here sell pots of regular Salvia elegans mixed in with other small potted salvias around here...

The flowers of the common or garden Sage (Salvia officinalis) are edible, too. As are the flowers of Clary Sage (S. sclarea) and Fruit Salad Sage (S. dorisiana).

Be careful with the Pineapple Sage - in my part of the world it is an environmental threat (noxious weed) - it can take over.

I love the Salvia officinalis flowers....I have the common purple flowering and white flowering.

Vera

Thank you for all of the suggestions, everyone! Now I want to plant them all. :-) I really like the Salvia officinalis - does that taste like "typical" sage, in cooking?

Thanks,
Katy

Salvia officinalis IS the 'typical' sage. The common or garden sage that everyone knows and loves. Ordinary sage.

Well, that shows how much I know about herbs. :-P Glad I asked!

-Katy

Ah! But you're learning, and asking questions is a good way to go about it. The rest of us are still learning, too - just a little further down the road.

There's a variegated version of common sage (S. officinalis) which I like to grow for it's very pretty leaf colour. It's used in exactly the same ways as the common silvery-blue original. Keep your eyes peeled for it.

Here is a link that might be useful: