Worth knowing:
The evergreen and bushy ramified Rosemary can easily be recognized through the intense aromatic scent and the dark-green, slender and longish leaves that are slightly curled towards the lower end to protect them from drying out. The numerous blue-purple flowers with its far outreaching stamens can show from February and until June. The shrub can easily be cultivated in a tub and is even limited frost-hard.
Natural Location:
Wild Rosemary grows all over the western and central Mediterranean region, particularly in the coastal areas from Portugal until the Ionian Sea.
Cultivation:
Place:
Rosemary likes a warm and sunny spot for cultivation and can also be moved outdoors during summer.
Care:
Since Rosemary is rather sensitive to wet conditions, you should use quality potting earth mixed with expanded clay or gravel for cultivation. Water the plant abundantly during summer, but always avoid waterlogging, especially in the saucer. The rest of the year, it needs only spare watering. From spring until summer, it is advisable to give a rather weak dosage of fluid fertilizer every two to three weeks. In mid August you should stop fertilizing since to much fertilizer will reduce the amount of essential oil in the plant. Pruning is best be done after blossoming. You may cut the withered inflorescences and the shoot tips to achieve a more bushy growth and cultivate a rather compact plant.
During the winter:
Ideally, Rosemary hibernates in a bright and cool place indoors with a temperature around 5° to 8° Celsius. Water only as much as the rooting doesn’t dry out. Outdoor plants should be provided with a thick layer of mulch or foliage to frost-protect the roots, and with a clear plastic cover as moisture proofing.
Picture credits:
- © © David R. Tribble - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Frank Laue - © Saflax - http://www.saflax.de/copyright
- © Petar43 - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Luispihormiguero - Public domain - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
- © Mokkie - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © H. Zell - CC-BY-SA-3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
- © Juni - CC-BY-2.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
- © Zeynel Cebeci - CC-BY-SA-4.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
