Published by: Almanac
Rosemary is an attractive perennial shrub with fragrant leaves. It’s also a popular culinary herb with a wonderful aroma and piney taste which goes well with meat, soups, and potatoes. Learn how to plant, grow, prune, and harvest rosemary the right way!
About Rosemary
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) is a compact small to medium-sized woody shrub; there’s also a trailing variety. This shrubby herb is a type of sage and grows well with other Mediterranean herbs, such as lavender and thyme. It has lovely blue flowers as well, attracting pollinators!
Drought-tolerant, rosemary grows best in warm areas, similar to its native shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In these conditions, rosemary can grow into a shrub 5 to 10 feet in height. In fact, rosemary grows so vigorously in ideal conditions that it needs yearly pruning to keep it bushy.
This herb can be grown in the ground or in a pot. If you live in Zones 7 and warmer, it grows easily as a perennial evergreen shrub that lives for many years. Rosemary is hardy down to 15 to 23°F (-10 to -5°C) so it may need winter protection. In colder areas, rosemary should be grown in a pot and brought indoors for the winter.
When growing rosemary as a culinary herb, it’s best to harvest in the spring and summer when it’s actively putting on new growth. Rosemary grows as a compact woody shrub. While all the leaves are technically edible, we usually only eat the tender leaves that form at the tips of new branches.
When to Plant Rosemary
- Plant rosemary is in spring well after frosts are gone, once the soil is starting to warm up (around 70º or 21°C). In warmer climates, plant in spring or fall.
- Most gardeners start rosemary from young plants bought at a nursery. This plant does not germinate easily from seed and seedlings are slow to grow.
- However, if you have access to an established rosemary plant, rosemary is very easily started from cuttings.
- If you wish to grow from seed indoors, just be aware it will take several years to grow the plant large enough to start harvesting.
- Start seeds or cuttings indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost.