Rosemary works well as a container plant. This way you can overwinter the plant inside in a sunny location.
but the most important item on the list is plenty of light. Most rosemary plants that die over winter do so from lack of light – they literally starve to death because they can’t photosynthesize in dim conditions. Keep your rosemary in a south-facing window where it will get lots of sunlight – it needs five to six hours a day – and cool air from the window glass. It really isn’t necessary to fertilize rose-
mary – remember its rough natural condi- tions – and it will give the best flavour from tough, relatively barren soils; howev- er, if you are growing it in a container, summer fertilizing can give it a boost. Do take the indoor plant to the sink to water, soaking the soil, then letting all the water drain out of the pot before putting it back into its tray. It prefers slightly alkaline soils so sandy garden soil is better than the more acidic peat-based potting mixes. If you want to increase your rosemary
Recommended rosemarys
or a recumbent form that will cascade (left) over the side of its container. Vesey’s Seeds recommends ‘Miss
T
Jessop’s Upright’, ‘Tuscan Blue’, a very large plant six to seven feet tall, with dark blue flowers; ‘Blue Spires’, five to six feet tall with a growth habit “like a miniature Italian cypress”; ‘Golden Rain’ with yellow-striped leaves and dark blue flowers; the ball- shaped ‘Boule’, two to three feet tall; ‘Ken Taylor’ two feet tall and some- what trailing; and the ground covers: ‘Prostratus’, two feet tall but excellent cascade; ‘Huntingdon Carpet’, small- er than ‘Prostratus’, but providing a very dense groundcover effect. Upright varieties contain more
volatile oils in their leaves so are often favoured for cooking.
36 SPRING 2013 SUMMER 2013
here are two general types of rose- mary: the upright form (above)
plants, you can do so from cuttings. The seeds take a long time to grow to harvest- able size and don’t always come true to the parents. Handle the cuttings as you would for any other plant: Take soft- wood cuttings of new growth. Strip off the bottom few leaves. Dip the stem in growth hormone and tuck the cutting into a nicely prepared potting soil mix. It should have roots in two to three weeks. As the plant grows, you will want to increase its pot size. A terra cotta container
Rosemary is popular herb for culinary uses.
www.localgardener.net
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40