Rosemary

By Dorothy Dobbie.

“As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb most sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it has a dumb language.” –Sir Thomas More

One of the most fragrant herbs, rosemary is a member of the mint family. You can tell by its square stems and opposite leaves, tiny flowers and strong scent, a sure indication of relationship to the family Lamiaceae. Its leaves are needle-like and the tiny blossoms are white, pink, blue or purple. Its Latin name is Salvia rosmarinus, which means “dew of the sea.”

Rosemary comes from the sunny, dry world of the Mediterranean, the first hint about how it likes to exist. This is a land where lawns are few and gravel or paving provides the ground covers because water is scarce. Rosemary is therefore drought tolerant and likes a nice loamy, well-drained soil.

It can get quite large under the right conditions and is used as a hedge and for topiary in its native habitat. There are also low-growing, creeping forms. Generally, it prefers a moderate, frost-free climate but there is a cultivar, ‘Arp’, that will tolerate temperatures as low as -12 Celsius and can stay outside in Zones 5 or 6 in the right conditions.

How to propagate

Rosemary is easily propagated by taking soft 4-to-6-inch cuttings, stripping leaves from the bottom of the stem, and placing the cuttings in water to develop roots. Or add some growth hormone and plant directly into soil or even into some damp gravel or perlite.

Rosemary’s culinary value has been celebrated for millenia.

Uses

Valued for millennia, it was used in Egyptian burials. It showed up and naturalized in China as early as the Han Dynasty around 220 CE. Hungary water was a perfume made of rosemary mixed with alcohol in Europe, but rosemary is mainly famous for its use as a culinary herb, found in soups, casseroles,

salads and stews. It enhances chicken, lamb and pork and provides a pungent foil for oily fish. You will also find it used in grains, mushrooms, and onions among other vegetables. Sprinkle potatoes with rosemary and roast them.

Don’t overdo it, though. Too much rosemary can cause vomiting, spasms, coma and fluid in the lungs. On the positive side, just the right amount is said to help you sleep if slipped into your pillow. Moreover, it is rich in antioxidants and is supposed to improve thinking ability, focus and memory. Some people make rosemary tea by boiling the leaves in water. Use one 4-inch sprig of rosemary to 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the sprigs (or leaves) and strain. Or you can simply add two sprigs to a cup of boiling water and let it stand for 5 minutes. It can be flavoured with honey and lemon.

Overwintering rosemary isn’t hard if you learn what it likes.

Bringing rosemary in for winter

Growing rosemary outside is very easy. Bringing it inside and overwintering it is more of a challenge.

Keep it in a cool place. Around 10 to 15° Celsius is preferred but it can get by in a slightly warmer room in a cooler window location. It will do well for the first two or three months, but as the days get shorter and if it is too warm, it begins to fail, dropping leaves and even turning brown. Water sparingly. Do not be tempted to increase watering as the plant will deteriorate even more, but do increase humidity. It likes dry roots and obtains water from the air around it, so one strategy is to surround the leaves with a plastic bag for a time.

Find the sunniest window possible and hope for the best or augment the light from an artificial source. It can literally starve if it cannot synthesize due to light deprivation.

If all goes well and it gets through the tough times, rosemary will thrill with its tiny flowers. Depending on the variety, it may bloom in November and December or in early spring.