(Karen Boness) I’ve got an old half-wine barrel outside my back door filled with some of my favorite herbs – rosemary, oregano, thyme and chives. They perform quite well on drip irrigation. But they are especially happy this time of year when the winter rains give them a big soaking. Lush and green they are a joy to look at and harvest.
I’m particularly fond of rosemary because it is smells so good and is so useful. It is the perfect triune plant providing utility and joy in the kitchen, in the landscape and even in the medicine cabinet.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) has many cultivars. They range from one-foot tall sprawlers to eight-foot arching triumphs. The low, cascading forms like “Prostratus”, “Irene”, and “Huntington Carpet” make great ground covers and are especially attractive cascading over a wall or embankment. The five-to-eight foot cultivars such as “Tuscan Blue”, “Spice Islands”, and “Blue Spires” make great accent plants and are lovely as natural screens. Make sure you give them enough room so they can spread into their fullness. “Collingwood Ingram” grows to two-and-a-half feet and works well as a clipped hedge. It can be used to replace boxwood in a formal water-wise garden.
Rosmary’s uses in the kitchen are legion. Just Google “recipes with rosemary” and see how many hits you get. I love rosemary roasted potatoes and rosemary seafood stew. I recently saw a recipe online for Rosemary Potato Kale Tart. It sounds delicious.
In western medical herbalism rosemary is recognized as a carminative and a nervine. Rosemary tea can be used to calm an upset stomach. Rosemary applied externally in the form of a salve or tincture or water bath treatment can ease muscular pain and neuralgia.
Rosemary is a water-wise plant that thrives near the sea as well as inland. It is sun loving yet I’ve seen it perform quite well in part-shade conditions. It’s dark green, needle like leaves have a whitish underbelly and are terrifically aromatic. Most rosemary plants have blue blossoms that display in winter and spring and often have a repeat bloom in fall. There are some cultivars with pink and white blossoms, too.
Karen Boness is a Sonoma based landscape designer, certified arborist ISA WE-9654A, and licensed landscape contractor #974035. Her business is Wild Willow Landscape Design – 707.481.8561.Wildwillowdesign.co.
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