Rosemary is an easy-to-grow versatile herb. It is a perennial evergreen shrub with grayish-green needle-like leaves and pale blue flowers that grow at the branch tips. The most important feature of rosemary, however, is its fragrance. It has been described as “pungent, somewhat piney, mint-like yet sweeter, with a slight ginger finale.”
In Wisconsin, rosemary cannot be grown outdoors year-round, as it is hardy only to 10 degree F. I grow mine in a container outdoors in summer and bring it indoors for winter. Since it can take such cold temperatures, it is the last plant to come indoors; when my deck is empty of geraniums and other tender flowering plants in fall, the rosemary is happy outdoors even as the first snowflakes fall.
Each spring, I pull the rosemary out of its pot to find that it is completely root bound. With a sharp knife, I slice two inches off the bottom of the root mass and about one inch all around the circumference, fill the pot with fresh potting soil, give it a good watering and move it back outdoors.
An alternative is to grow it in the ground outdoors and then pot it up to bring indoors for winter. Another is to grow it in a pot, but sink the pot in the ground while it is outdoors.
Rosemary grows beset with at least six hours of sun a day. Because mine grows in a container, I water it every day in summer, but when it comes indoors for winter, it gets watered only once a week.
My reference books say rosemary grows two to six feet tall. It can be kept smaller by trimming the branch ends occasionally. I keep my 10-year-old rosemary plant between 14 and 16 inches tall. Rosemary can easily be trained as a bonsai plant or topiary.
There are many uses for rosemary. It combines well for cooking with just about any meat or vegetable. Dried rosemary can be used for potpourri or sachets. A few sprigs of rosemary in the bath gets blood flowing under the skin for a stimulating pick-me-up. Or make a steam facial of rosemary leaves to perk up your face. A strong rosemary tea used as a rinse will brighten dark hair.
Its branches are stiff, yet malleable enough to make beautiful herb wreaths. In the garden, rosemary is a good companion to cabbage, beans, and carrots since it deters cabbage moth, bean beetles and carrot fly.
Rosemary is very difficult to grow from seed so it is best to buy a plant from a nursery. It is available in spring at many local garden center
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