We have been having a discussion about pineapple sage on the Texas Gardening Forum. Remember though that we are talking about zones 7, 8 and 9 where it is both very hot and very humid. I wouldn't pull it up though because it just might start blooming for you soon. Good luck.

Standard Pineapple Sage is a short daylight plant which normally doesn't bloom during the summer. The problem for us northern gardeners is that its usual first blooms in late September starts very close to our first frost date. It seems like a perfect plant for Rockport. I know you occasionally get freezes, I've been down when you've had them. But aren't you frost free most falls? This would give you a good long bloom season, and in milder winter, maybe straight thru into June.

Lastly, heat and humidity. Pineapple Sage handles them both very well. We've had a lot of days in the 90s with very high humidity here for weeks. The pineapple sage has been growing like crazy. I'd give at least one of your plants a chance to prove itself, and maybe move the others where they won't crush your annuals. Your hummingbirds will thank you.

Thank you for the advice, the pineapplesage discussion was very helpful. My plants are green and lush so I guess I will leave them alone and see what happens in another month.

Hello. I am in Z6b, South Eastern Corner of PA. I heard that Pinapple sage was a good hummingbird plant and bought all I could find last year and planted it. It got huge and kept breaking/falling apart. It didn't bloom until all of my local hummingbirds had already left. It got killed by frost almost immediatly after it bloomed. In this zone I'll never plant it again.
Good luck w/yours.
JD

wardw

Yes, we get our occasional freeze, but since I live on one of the salt water bays, I maybe get a freeze every 5 to 7 years. One morning I had a light frost on my front lawn, but none on the back lawn which is 50' from the bay. I can grow pineapple sage as an perennial, but the snow knocked it out this past winter. The once in a lifetime Christmas snow for Rockport.

I now am waiting for it to cool down a bit to plant a peach sage Salvia dorisiana. I've never had one before, but I thought that the hummers might like it.

Neither my pineapple sage nor my Mexican bush sage start blooming until late summer.

Well I guess I will be happy if it blooms in late summer, Right now the hummingbirds have lots to choose from so a late bloomer would be nice. Next year I just won't buy as many as I did this year.

same here, mimidi, late summer.
this year I'm having similar trouble with mine. pieces dying, breaking apart.

I have 3 planted and two are right next to each other. The size difference is amazing but both are doing well despite some white fly problems this year. I do not spray these for obvious reasons. Then there is the one in the front that is just pitiful. I have rooted quite a few stems off of it but haven't gotten around to planting them quite yet. I think that maybe it is a little neglected because it is under my eave where it doesn't get as much water from the rain and mainly has me to depend on.

Front pineapple sage
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Side pineapple sage-2 plants side by side
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Wow thats pretty, even without blooms! I cut mine back a couple of months ago because it was so stringy with alot of brown leaves.

I currently am growing two types of pineapple sage - the regular one, which can grow quite large and often doesn't bloom until very late in the season (too late for hummers), and Salvia elegans 'Honey Dew' which only grows to about two feet tall with smaller blooms, but it blooms much earlier and keeps on blooming throughout the summer.

Last year we had a mild fall, and my regular pineapple sage bloomed just as the last hummers were leaving. I planted some again this year just in case.... and because they are easier to find at nurseries and garden centers. What's frustrating is that they sometimes have a couple blooms on them when you buy them, but don't bloom again until fall. (As mentioned in other posts, that has to do with the length of day.)

The Salvia elegans 'Honey Dew' is often a little harder to locate, but since they bloom all summer, it's worth looking around to find them. I have heard that they will bloom all winter if you pot them up and bring them inside, but I haven't tried that. I think there's also one called Tangerine Sage, but haven't tried it.

So don't give up on your pineapple sage just yet! Plant both next year if you can find them.