Growing the Rosemary Plant and Its Uses

The Rosemary plant is essential to any summer garden. Both cooks and apothecaries have used this plant since the beginning of time.

Rosemary is known for it's healing abilities. It is used to strengthen memory, and in the days of old, to wart off the plague. The herb of love, brides have been known to use this herb into their ceremony of love by wearing a wreath of rosemary around their neck. In the olden days the rosemary herb was also burned in chambers of the sick to purify the air.

Fast forwarding to the current time, you will find that rosemary is mostly used for garden hedges. The rosemary plant in bloom produces a beautiful orchid like mauve blue flower in the early summer. With the new variety of rosemary, it can grow up to eight feet tall within just a few years.

Where Best to Grow

Rosemary loves and flourishes in a sunny location. It yearns to be protected from cold winter winds. This plant does not mind being pulled up out of the ground and placed in pots in the winter, to be placed and protected from the cold harsh weather.

What Type of Soil

The rosemary plant prefers to live in a soil that drains well. Planting should be done inside during the spring and moved outdoors to bathe in the sunny summer months, or plant outside during the summer. You can if you choose, plant rosemary in a pot and place under a sunny window.

Propagating

When propagating, it can be done by cuttings or layering. Leave about 2 or 3 feet in between planting. This plant will also be perfectly happy grown indoors under a sunny window.

Harvest Your Bounty

You can harvest rosemary all year-round by gathering the leaf before flowering. I love to use the woody dried stems to throw on a fire or barbecue for its wonderful aroma and to wart off insects.

Preserving Your Bounty

When it comes time for drying out rosemary, dry the leathery needle like sprigs and branches, than strip off the leaves before you store them. For their aroma, crush their succulent leaves just before you want to use them.

The rosemary plant also offers many uses around the house. From cleaning to cooking, this plant is a wonderful addition to any indoor or outdoor garden.

There are several different varieties of rosemary, but they basically all have the same characteristics.

To take a look at more articles just like this one, click here: Herbs List.

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