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Old 19-03-2010, 04:00 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Emery Davis[_3_] Emery Davis[_3_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2009
Posts: 868
Default Growing a Rosemary bush

On 03/19/2010 09:09 AM, Sacha wrote:
On 2010-03-19 00:11:15 +0000, Emery Davis said:

On 03/18/2010 06:31 PM, wrote:
A warning: many people find that rosemary is short-lived in the UK,
because it suffers from fungal root-rot. The trick is to layer it


Yes, I find this even in a well drained (all is relative!) spot. I'm
afraid our 2 large -- maybe 1.5 meter -- bushes are all failing after
this winter. Project this weekend to perform major surgery.

-E


Do you think it's snow melt that's causing this problem? I ask because
I know of a few people who've had that problem with other plants in the
past. They're in free-draining spots but there's just too much moisture
to get rid of.


Hi Sacha,

I really don't know what causes it. But I've tried some _really_ dry
places. Currently they're against a south facing wall, quite near the
base, in a slightly raised bed. For sure they don't like great amounts
of snow, but I wonder if they weren't weakened the previous winter.

For the OP's sake, though, these have survived at -22C (well probably a
little above that because of the wall). Though as we all know there's a
lot of difference between surviving and thriving!

The great advantage when the rosemary gets really big is you can use
huge amounts with impunity. We very often grill over a wood fire in the
big kitchen fireplace; adding some rosemary branches at the end will
cause the coals to flame up and smoke like crazy, which gives a
wonderful smoked-rosemary flavour to meat.

-E