Quezi

Rosemary growing in Spain (Photo by soltenviva - CC-BY)

Rosemary is delicious in all kinds of savoury cooking, and it’s simple to grow in climates not too different from its home base around the Mediterranean. If you plant it near a path not only can you enjoy its scent when you brush past on sunny days, but on rainy days you can easily pick a bit for kitchen use.

This low evergreen shrub with pretty blue-mauve flowers thrives in poor, well-drained soil – sandy not peaty – and likes sun. In hot sunny periods water it at intervals, but you can neglect watering in cooler seasons. It tolerates wind “at home” but further north it may prefer a less exposed spot. If you have hard frosts, as in US zone 5/6 or colder, you will usually need to grow rosemary in a pot and overwinter it indoors. In milder parts of these areas some varieties may survive in sheltered ground near a heat-retaining wall. Growing it by a south-facing wall works well in many parts of the UK.

Rosemary (rosmarinus officinalis) comes in upright and more sprawling varieties. Check out other people’s gardens and local suppliers to see which you prefer. Do you want it to fit tidily into limited space? Or trail over the edge of a wall or paved area? Local info will also help you select more frost-hardy types where this matters.

If you’re not already cooking with rosemary, try adding some to roast lamb for a classic combination.  It goes well with pork, salmon, or white fish too. Keep a sprig of rosemary in a bottle of olive oil for flavouring salad dressings or roasting potatoes. Mix it into bread dough with chopped onion. Onion or garlic work well with rosemary in almost any recipe.

Rosemary foot baths and hair rinses smell fresh and invigorating – just throw some leaves in the water and let them soak a while before using. Rosemary water is often said to help hair shine – try it and see.

Bunches of rosemary hanging, or in vases, will help to scent a room, alone or with other flowers and herbs. Experiment to see if rosemary’s traditional reputation as an insect-repellent carries any weight with your local insects. Potpourri and sachets made up like lavender bags smell good with dried rosemary included.

It’s not practical to try making aromatherapy-style essential oil of rosemary at home. But do you really need it? Since this is an evergreen herb you can pick it all year round. One well-established bush will provide plenty if you just want some now and again.