Comments on: Rosemary in Winter

By: Mike Bertoglio

Mike Bertoglio — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:41:24 +0000

Visited Cloisters last week for first time. Awesome garden.
Last winter in Washington State we lost our Rosemary in pots to a freezing rain. However, the two plants I have sited near the wall or our house-Northwest survived.
What about your Bay Laurel- did that one survive?
MB

By: Miriam

Miriam — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:44:30 +0000

I bought a rosemary plant at Whole Foods Market in NJ three years ago and planted it directly in my garden which has Southern exposure and it has been growing beautifully ever since. I have cut lots of branches (14 to 15 inches each) to give to my neighbor because if I don’t control it it kind of takes over every other smaller plant around it. It stays green all year and has very cute flowers. I’m sure it will take the big Northeastern that we are expecting tomorrow night. On the other hand I have tried to keep various Rosemary topiaries that I have gotten oner Christmas alive inside the house so I can plant it out in the spring with no success. I threw out the last one today, black as charcoal.

By: Elizabeth Chadwick

Elizabeth Chadwick — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:54:28 +0000

Just came across your fascinating blog while browsing this evening. I have a rosemary in my garden - Nottingham UK, England. It dwells in a sheltered bed near a bay window and lives there throughout the year. I was amazed to learn you have to over-winter yours indoors. Ours is a prolific creature that flowers constantly and thrives - even in winter. Of late our winters have been mild and where we are it doesn’t go much below -5 at the coldest. but our Rosemary is rampant and shows no sign of being winter-challenged!

By: thea mcginnis

thea mcginnis — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:51:55 +0000

Kevin, thanks for the info on hardy Rosemary. I didn’t know there was such a variety. It’s funny, but i lived not too far from Cornell when I lived in NY and couldn’t keep a rosemarygoing over winter. My sister is a docent at the Tudor House (a George Washington extended family home) and I will have her check what variety the Rosemary she picked up there is. Now it seems I’ve got a NY Rosemary that does quite well down here. (mid atlantic region).

By: Kevin Wiecks

Kevin Wiecks — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:45:20 +0000

Thank you for all the wonderful comments. It is very interesting, as well as helpful, to hear the different approaches to overwintering this plant.

Wendy, rosemary always drops in price prior to winter. Retailers also realize the difficulties. It sounds like you are off to a better start with the new one. The humidifier is a great idea, as Barbara also suggested. Just be careful that humidity levels don’t get too high. Fungal diseases can be a tremendous problem with rosemary.

Kate, I am glad you enjoyed the visit. Make sure you come back in the spring.

Thea, It sounds like you have a hardy rosemary cultivar. The straight species Rosmarinus officinalis would not overwinter in those conditions. Chances are your plant is either ‘Arp’ or ‘Hill Hardy’ (syn. ‘Madeline Hill’). Both cultivars are grown in the research gardens at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. They are nice specimens that overwinter successfully within the blistering winters of the Finger Lakes. However, as mentioned in the post, they are much slower growers.

Rebecca, we will certainly do a post on dye plants in the future. They are a very important part of our collection. We have an entire bed devoted to plants that were adapted as artists’ materials. This bed does contain weld, woad, madder and buckthorn. Unfotunately, there is no black walnut. All of the colors in the Unicorn Tapestries were taken from dyes derived from woad, weld. and madder. We will revisit this subject. Thank you for the suggstion.
Barbara, thank you for the comment and welcome to the blog.
Barbara is one our devoted gardeners at The Cloisters.
Expect to read more on the subject of Rosemary. I will be continuing this post on Friday, February 13th.

By: Barbara Bell

Barbara Bell — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:36:03 +0000

For several winters, I have over-wintered rosemary plants in my home with great success. Cool temperatures and humidity are the key. The plants are given a southern exposure in a room that is about 60 degrees. When there is new growth, which is usually leggy under these conditions, it gets cut back. I like to consider the plants to be in “suspended animation”, and I do not wish to stress them with regular strength fertilization or the need to support new growth. It is wise to check the soil every three to four days to see if the plants need water. Put your finger in the soil, it is the only way to know if they need watering. Each plant might have different watering needs depending on the type of pot (unglazed clay permits the soil to dry out quickly) or if the plant is rootbound, so check each plant and water accordingly. When my plants were smaller and easier to manuever I would put them in a steamy shower stall once a week. It was also a convenient way to hose off the plants (with cool water!) keeping any infestation at bay. Now I run a humidifier near them. And don’t forget to harden-off any plants before relocating them outdoors for the growing season, and the same rule goes for bringing them in for the winter. For the winter to spring transition place the plants outdoors in a semi-shaded spot with protection from drying winds during the day, then bring indoors for the evening. Do this one week prior to leaving them outside for the growing season. In the fall, bring the plants indoors at night for one week before bringing them in for the dormant season.

By: Rebecca Bourgault

Rebecca Bourgault — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:54:48 +0000

I discovered this blog a few months ago and I am delighted about its existence. Thank you!

I would like to suggest an entry on the subject of natural plant dyes as I understand that woad, weld and madder provided medieval artisans with sources of primary colors, not to mention buckthorn and black walnut as alternatives. Are these plants found in your gardens?
Also, I was wondering if we know anything about what plants were used in the dyeing of fibers used for the weaving of the Unicorn Tapestries? Have chemical analysis been done? Thank you again for a beautiful blog site.

By: thea mcginnis

thea mcginnis — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:02:14 +0000

Kevin, thanks for all the info on Rosemary. I have had relatively no success keeping rosemary over the winter, even when i bring it into the house. i lived in upstate ny in a lovely farmhouse, but i don’t think the home temp was consistent enough to offset the move trauma. However, I now live in Arlington VA which is probably zone 6ish, garden-wise. At the end of the summer, my sister brought me three plants from Tudor House, a historic home in Georgetown that has beautiful gardens. They were end of the season bargains, I believe. Anyway, two were lav enders (munstead i think) and one died, the other one is outside, still green and alive. But the third is a Rosemary. It grew taller thru the fall. This past week of snow and ice storms and freezing temps hasn’t turned it black. it’s still going strong, even covered with snow. I have no idea what kind it is, but i’ve never heard of a rosemary surviving normal winter weather.i run it through my fingers every morn, enjoying it’s scent. what do you think?

By: Kate Foy

Kate Foy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:59:44 +0000

I visited the Cloisters for the first time on Thursday. How delightful to see the gardens wearing their winter white and to imagine the summer and other seasonal looks.

Re Rosemary, I have no problems with mine, either seasonal or pestilential. It delights in the baking heat of Queensland, Australia and grows sturdily and rapidly. I delight in its perennial presence especially for cooking and as an aromatic vase specimen. Good luck with the potted versions and thanks again for the Cloisters experience.

By: Wendy Erickson

Wendy Erickson — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:33:00 +0000

This past summer I got a nice rosemary standard marked down to $5 at the end of the season. After losing one the winter before (that one was NOT $5!) I have been determined to keep this one alive. It lives in an indoor porch which averages a temp of 65 degrees, gets full sun in a south facing window with some neighboring plants, and I have a humidifier running right in front of it! I water it every day or three (it’s in a clay pot) and so far so good. I fertilized it in December and it has some new growth too. I must be nuts because I paid $50 for the humidifier…Go figure. But if it survives, it will be worth it!