| General Description | A very useful plant for the obvious ornamental values but also its culinary uses.
Additionally it is today known that its volatile oils, falvonoids, phenolic acids, tannins, rosmaricine and rosamarinic acids have painkilling, astringent and antiseptic properties. Current research seems to suggest that Rosmarinus officinalis facilitates and aids healing and metabolic changes but may also enhance cognitive performance. However, caution should be exercised in its use. |
| Landscape | It can be a long lasting shrub and some plants exceed twenty years in suitable locations in the garden. With its obvious culinary uses it also responds well to clipping and thus has many uses as a topiary, hedges, containers, and mass plantings in the landscape. There are numerous cultivars that further enhance its use with one of my favourites being R. officinalis 'Pendula' planted so that it drapes over walls. |
| Cultivation | Plant in well-drained, moderate soil in full sun. In spring after flowering prune new growth to half to encourage fullness. Otherwise prune errant or leggy branches back to a break or side shoot. Not long lived plants may experience a decline in vigour after about 10 years. It is not usually necessary to fertilize plants but on very poor soils the addition of a light compost application may assist in rejuvenation of stale plants. |
| Pests | Xylella a bacterial disease is a serious threat to many horticultures crops due to its virulence and wide range of species it can infect. It can infect more than 560 species with wide ranging symptoms including leaf scorch, yellowing and scorching, wilt, branch and twig dieback and plant death. These symptoms can be identical to other symptoms such as drought and weather stress. Infected plants show symptoms within a few years after planting. |
| Habitat | Rosemary grows on friable loam soil with good drainage in an open sunny position in dry woodlands of the Mediterranean region. |