On 6/11/2008 9:52 PM, Charles wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:24:34 -0700, "Eigenvector"
wrote:

I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong when trimming back my rosemary.

I clip the branches about midway to keep the bush more compact and dense -
but all that happens is that a few months later the entire branch dies. So
in frustration I've just let the bush grow where it may, which is pretty
tangled and sparse.

Why is this happening? Is there a specific time to clip rosemary, a
specific location on the branch perhaps?


I've read quite recently that it is bad to prune back into bare wood,
just prune where the green is growing.

This is excllent advice. If you cut below the lowest green leaf, the
branch will indeed die. This is true of several other plants, including
lavender.

When I cut the rosemary to use it in cooking, I generally remove an
entire small branch.

When I prune my rosemary, I either remove entire branches or merely head
a branch near its tip, leaving most of the foliage. My bush is 25-30
years old and taller than I am. It has beautiful twisted branches. I
prune it to expose the branch pattern and also to keep it from blocking
the public sidewalk.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/