Don't Throw Out Extra Sage: Here's How To Bundle Your Garden Clippings For Natural Home Fragrances

There might not be anything as invigorating as the scent your plants give off when they're in full growth. Whether it's your florals bursting with sweet aromas, or your herbs that give off the rich scents they're known for, having a fragrant garden is so rewarding. However, at some point everything needs to be harvested or trimmed, and if you find you have a lot of extra sage when it comes time to prune, don't just throw it away. Instead, save the stems to create smudge sticks to use around your home. Not only do these sage bundles allow you to fill your rooms with the mood lifting scent of this gorgeous herb, but you'll also avoid wasting those precious trimmings. Easy to make and store, these sage bundles or smudge sticks can be found in retail shops for upwards of $30, but you can make your own with a few of your trimmed stems and some string or twine.

Sage is one of the plants you should be pruning in spring to ensure it grows healthy and thrives without being weighed down by older branches. To properly harvest some of these to make your bundles, you want to get into the middle of the plant and find branches that have buds of new growth along the lower part of the wood. Find the lowest bud and trim jut above it. This will help your plant continue to flourish and give you a good amount of sage to work with.

You won't need all the stem for your bundles, but this helps you to clean up your plant, ready for new growth. Once you have your clippings, trim back the longer woody stems, so you just have the green portion of the plant, aka leaves and stems. Cut away any straggler pieces toward the bottom of your cuttings. You should now have several bundles of sage leaves. Take two bunches (or one big bunch) and separate into two equal parts. Flip one so it is facing opposite the other (think yin and yang). Line them up so everything is even and, once again, trim any stems to make the bundles straight.

Using your string, tie the two bushels together around the middle, leaving enough twine to wrap around the whole bundle. Tie in a knot to secure. From here, you want to fold the top of each side toward the middle, creating an oblong shape that is rounded at each end. Start wrapping the entire thing with the remaining string, leaving large gaps (this should not become a mummified bundle). Tie off the string once your stick is secure and packed tight. It may help to loop one more piece of string around the ends to ensure everything is super firm. Cut away anything that is sticking out. Make sure you use thin string to avoid the scent of burning twine when your stick is lit.

Your smudge sticks don't have to be super basic unless you want them to be. You can combine other herbs and ingredients as well as make them more decorative, especially if you plan to keep them out on display. Some other herbs you could combine include lavender, rosemary, or peppermint, but many aromatic species will play nicely with your sage. You can intersperse these throughout the bundle, just make sure all of your ingredients are dried properly before burning. To do this, hang your bundles in a dry, cool area of your home that is also dark, so the sun doesn't take away the scented properties. 

To know if your sticks are ready, make sure the whole thing is brittle enough to burn. Since you're using fresh sage to make them, as this makes folding easier, this final step is super important. You can also tie your bundle up with strings of different colors to make them more vibrant or fit a certain theme. Not only do they smell great, but you can even use a sage bundle to keep bugs away and soothe stress, which according to some studies, white sage can help with. Finally, if you're in the process of moving house, you might want to know how to sage your new home before moving in.