I moved to this house three years ago. There are two upright rosemarys about 3 ft. high and 5 ft across. I was expecting these to bloom, but they haven't. Do I need to feed them something to make them bloom? They are in full sun between the sidewalk and the street.
Upright Rosemary
Bezziec ~ welcome to Daves garden and to the Texas forum.
How lucky you are to have two rosemary plants. Their blooms aren't real showy. Most cultivars bloom off and on through wintertime.
They don't need much care. You can prune and shape them, using the herb for cooking if you wish. They don't need excess water at all and I've never fertilized mine and really don't think that is necessary but will try to research for you. Kristi
Howdy and welcome...upright rosemary is not as common as others...but they usually don't bloom until the temps are cooler...and are rather picky about when or if they do it...our weather over the past few years have certainly had an impact...
Oh, hello! I saw your post before but I didn't notice you were new to DG. WELCOME. There's a thread around here somewhere of people talking about Rosemary.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1268794/
note: this is a JOKE. Her rosemary doesn't really bloom like that.
Carrie, please post a link to that discussion if/when you run across it again! Thanks!
Linda
Above, Linda. We crossed.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1233095/
Here's one from the Herbs Forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1233095/
Here's one from the Herbs Forum.
And an ARTICLE that may help.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2581/
Thanks everyone for the welcomes and the information. I am an experienced gardener from southwest Missouri, but had to rethink full sun versus full sun in central Texas!! And yes, carrielamont, I recognized the blooms on the rosemary as either hybiscus or althea blooms. I do use some of the rosemary for cooking and am getting ready to give them a major haircut. I sometimes see neighborhood walkers taking a sprig of it with them since it is next to the sidewalk. Doesn't hurt it a bit of course. Great to be here on Dave's Garden and I'm looking forward to learning more about planting in Texas.
Trim off all you want from the side byt
DONT rop it off - ir the top leaders wont come back.
Welcome to Dg, Bezziec. How nice to inherit such a wonderful herb.
Baja, I'm afraid you may have been mislead. There is absolutely no reason you can't cut the top branches or central leaders. They will grow back thicker and denser if you do cut back, and prevent the bush from lodging. You can feel free to cut away :0)
What does lodging mean in this context?
I always thot the stems held up the foliage, not the other way round. i still dont understand.
Sorry, I stink at explaining things. It's nothing simpler then a top heavy stem, all the weight pulls the stem down. You have to prune the plants to keep them looking dense., when actually there is no foliage in the centre of the plant.
I bought this rosemary as a 4" pot, it's 8' across. There is no foliage on the inside of the plant, if i don't trim it soon, all the weight will go to one side and it will look like it's dead in the center. I've hacked away at it for over 12 years, top and sides.
Uh ~ oh... better go look closer at mine. LOL
Seriously, rosemary is bad about doing just exactly that. Most folks think it is dying from the inside out. Kristi
Ask on the Herbs Forum.
Thanks, Cocoa. I get it now. I have young rosemarys so glad to learn about this in time to manage my plants correctly..
Thanks for the explanation on lodging. I have an artemsia that is doing just that. If I cut it back this winter (or should I do it now) will it come back thicker and more upright?
What kind are you growing? I've had the low mounding ornamentals. For those, I would give them a really hard trim early in the spring. Leaving about 10" stems, then another not so drastic trim just about the time they started looking their best. That kept them in their best 'mound' form all year long. You shouldn't have any problem trimming them at any time you like, However, they grow the most and rebound quicker in the early summer and fall.
They are also very easy to root from the discarded trimmings. Just place a 3"-4" piece of stem in potting soil and place in the shade for a few weeks.
Thanks, cocoa_lulu. I will give it a hard trim about February and then another about June. Would like to keep it from sprawling so much. I also failed to trim my plumbago last winter because it was so warm it never stopped growing. It will get a haircut this winter so it is not so leggy. Glad to know that artemsia will root easily. My neighbor and I are getting ready to make a large flower bed between our houses this fall, so anything free will be helpful. Neither of us ever saw a plant we didn't like!!!
That's the right kind of neighbor to have!
No kidding, that would be wonderful! The closest I ever came to having a neighbor that enjoyed gardening was an extremely elderly woman. She would come over to visit, give me a dollar to buy her some bedding plants. Then get furious with me because I never got her the right plants. She would prattle back home with her dollar and "wrong" plants. LOL
I loved her style and really do miss her!
In Milton, MA we lived next to a yard Nazi. He HATED our flowering plants because sometimes they accidentally seeded on his sacred lawn. 3 times a week, at 8 am, April-November, whether it had grown or not, he would mow his grass (after all the insecticide had washed downhill and killed all our butterflies). Grrrrrrr. We've planted knock-out roses between our yard and his lawn. At least we don't have to trim them--his LAWN MOWER does that.
Will try to post some before, during and after pictures if I can remember to take them. Love to see the blooms on here. Makes me want to go buy one of every kind. We are going to try to do mostly a butterfly/hummingbird garden, but my neighbor loves roses so there will probably be some of those too. We have about a 10' by 20' space that we can use. Trying to keep from having so much St. Augustine grass to water since neither of us have sprung for an irrigation system.
10' x 20' is big! (I have 0 x 0.)