{"id":2929,"date":"2019-12-16T07:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2929"},"modified":"2019-12-16T07:23:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:23:17","slug":"rosemary-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/rosemary-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosemary Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rosemary<\/a>Merchandisers are under a lot of pressure every year to introduce new and\/or different plants for the holidays.\u00a0 Troll the aisles of nurseries and garden centers right now and you will see new and different poinsettias, bodacious kalanchoes and even hellebores for indoor display.\u00a0 Novelty piques interest.<\/p>\n

I am a jaded horticulture consumer, so piquing my interest is difficult.\u00a0 Still, I am very attracted to the increased number of herbal topiaries available for holiday purchase.\u00a0 This year I am seeing lots of rosemary topiaries, which I find especially attractive.\u00a0 When I look at the shrubby little rosemary currently residing in my sunny foyer window, I begin to have thoughts of disciplining it into tree form, just to keep up with current fashion.<\/p>\n

Those of us who are fond of cooking probably have a little jar of dried rosemary in our spice racks.\u00a0 Those of us who aspire to somewhat greater culinary heights may have some fresh rosemary in the crisper drawer.\u00a0 Not many of us grow the live item in our gardens or, for cold climate dwellers, in our houses for the winter.\u00a0 Clearly the garden merchandisers think it is time for us to reconsider.<\/p>\n

Rosemary or Rosmarinus officianalis is a member of the enormous mint or Lamiaceae family.\u00a0 It is a small shrub, closely related to lavender, Russian sage and other salvias.\u00a0 Hailing from the Mediterranean, its fragrant leaves and stems have been used for culinary, medicinal and cosmetic purposes for centuries.\u00a0 Most of us don\u2019t need \u201cstrewing herbs\u201d now, but back in the days when dirt floors were covered with increasingly rancid straw, a sprinkling of rosemary underfoot helped make indoor environments more tolerable.\u00a0 Easy to dry and store, rosemary has been used internally and externally over the centuries to cure everything from bad digestion to eczema. \u00a0One ancient herbal even recommended regular exposure to the pungent scent of \u201cthe wood of rosemary\u201d to prolong and preserve youthful vigor.<\/p>\n

Rosemary is happiest in warm weather climates, where it can enjoy full sun, moderate to dry soil and good drainage.\u00a0 Under those conditions, it can grow two to six feet tall and two to four feet wide.\u00a0 When June or July rolls around, a healthy plant will produce lots of white to blue blossoms that attract pollinators and appreciative glances.\u00a0 In California\u2019s Gold Rush country I once saw prostrate rosemary plants growing over a stone wall, sprinkling blooms like stars against the gray stone background.\u00a0 Fittingly that display was in front of a VFW hall, where the rosemary fulfilled one of its other traditional roles\u2014as the herb of remembrance.\u00a0 Shakespeare marks this in Hamlet<\/em>, when Ophelia says, \u201cThere\u2019s rosemary, that\u2019s for remembering.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can provide everything that rosemary likes, except the warm weather climate.\u00a0 That is why my plant, which flourished and bloomed last summer, is currently resident indoors.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a warm greenhouse or a sophisticated array of plant lights, so I have to stay vigilant if my rosemary is to survive until it can go outdoors in spring.\u00a0 If you are in the same situation now, or receive one of those lovely rosemary topiaries as a holiday gift, provide it with as much light as you can.\u00a0 Supplemental light\u2014even that provided by ordinary light bulbs\u2014will help.\u00a0 Turn the plant every few days to promote even growth, and honor the herb of remembrance by remembering not to kill it with the kindness of overwatering.<\/p>\n

Making a topiary is not hard\u2014it just takes a bit of clipping and a modicum of patience.\u00a0 If you can, pick a young specimen with a single strong stem.\u00a0 Clip off any branching stems on the lower two thirds of the plant.\u00a0 Trim the top growth into a rounded shape.\u00a0 Stake the rosemary so that it grows straight and monitor its progress, removing lower side stems and continuing to shape the top.\u00a0 Your topiary will get better and better over time, as long as its other cultural requirements are met.<\/p>\n

If you are lucky enough to receive a ready-made rosemary topiary, all you have to do is enjoy its beauty and fragrance, and discipline its growth to maintain the shape.\u00a0 When you clip shoots, use the leaves right away in recipes, or air-dry them for future use.\u00a0 Herbs that you grow yourself seem to taste better than even the freshest store-bought specimens.<\/p>\n

I should add that if someone gives you last year\u2019s topiary of choice\u2014lavender\u2014you can treat it in the same way as rosemary.\u00a0 This will keep you in practice for next year, when some new variety of herbal topiary will inevitably take center stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merchandisers are under a lot of pressure every year to introduce new and\/or different plants for the holidays.\u00a0 Troll the aisles of nurseries and garden centers right now and you will see new and different poinsettias, bodacious kalanchoes and even hellebores for indoor display.\u00a0 Novelty piques interest. I am a jaded horticulture consumer, so piquing … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[222,263,2225,2222,2224,2221,2223],"class_list":["post-2929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-herbs","tag-mint-family","tag-overwintering-herbs","tag-rosemary","tag-rosemary-trees","tag-rosmarinus-officianalis","tag-topiary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2931,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2929\/revisions\/2931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}