On 03/19/2010 05:38 PM, Sacha wrote:
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!

And some do better than others. The one we know as the Salcombe
rosemary here - the very, very, very long one that trails on for ever,
is as tender as can be, as is R. Severn Seas. But R. Marenca has come
happily through the winter here in one wall and died off in another 3
feet away, in the same type of soil and height etc. I can only assume
that the dead one was not a good plant or that there's some little
pocket of water that collects underneath it. Anyway, it's now an
ex-rosemary.

Ah, many of us here remember the famous Salcombe rosemary. And the
accompanying "discussions" For sure there are a lot of varieties
that perform differently, though. I lived in San Francisco for a few
years, not too far from Ocean Beach, there were many rampant rosemaries,
not used in the kitchen and I'm sure not hardy here, but still wonderful
smelling when bruised.


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.
[]
I've had meat cooked over vine prunings to the same effect - delicious!
I recall friends of mine in France (Haut Beaujolais) had an Albizia
julibrissin which thrived in their garden for years but one year the
snowfall was particularly heavy and by the time it had all melted, the
tree was dead as a doornail.

I've had trouble with that one. I planted it in what I hoped was a very
drained hillock, but it died back more and more over several years and I
finally took it out. Haven't tried again as it was quite dear. These
do very well on the coast in sandy soil though, don't seem to mind the salt.

I put a Davidia involucrata a few feet over, it's hanging in although it
didn't appreciate the snow, either.

-E