"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 17:20:06 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:8cojd.475638$mD.183276@attbi_s02...

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 18:01:23 -0600, Mark Anderson
wrote:

Saturate with water. Rosemary wants tons of water. Rootbound plants
need even more. Give lots of nitrogen, too (I feed it manure tea)
and
a handful of lime sprinkled around the dirt..

I've also had tough luck with Rosemary, but somehow this plant is
over
a year old and about 3 feet tall (no flowers yet). I believe the
major trick is "EXCESSIVE watering". Don't believe the ads when they
say "drought tolerant"

You can't be farther away from the truth - rosemary does not need
"excessive" watering, will resent it if you do, plus it requires
minimal
fertilizing as well. As with most plants native to a temperate zone, it
is
not happy being grown in the house. And it needs time to acclimatize
from
being outside. Keep in very bright but indirect light, water sparingly
and
increase humidity levels by adding a glass or two of water to the
general
vicinity. Keep out of drafts or away from direct sources of heat.

pam - gardengal



I agree about the humidity, although I say this only in theory, because
I'm
still struggling with MY rosemary plants. I recall reading that they grow
mightily along the Mediterrean coastline, in weird rocky soil, like beach
roses. Does that point to more lime, rather than the typical bagged
potting
soil, which contains lots of peat moss?


A small amount of agricultural lime, perhaps a tablespoon to 4 quarts
of potting soil, should be enough. Put the mixture through a hardware
cloth screen a couple times to integrate the lime. You can overdo
the lime and kill the plant. For a plant already potted, you can put
a teaspoon of *clear* household ammonia in a quart of water. (Today
it seems difficult to purchase clear ammonia due to the demand
increase of meth lab chemists.)

Ammonia??? I actually have the basic unadulterated stuff. It's really OK to
use on plants? Wait...let's do this another way. I just bought a soil test
kit and unless there's some law against it, I think I'm allowed to use it on
potting soil as well as outdoor soil. What's the correct pH range for
rosemary? Any idea?

This raises another question: Who's more of a problem? The meth lab
scientists, or the armies of Martha Stewart wannabees who gave the cleaning
products industry a reason to come up with crap like "meadow dream" scented
ammonia? Next thing you know, we'll pull up to the gasoline pumps and find
"summer breeze high-test". :-)

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 11:19:41 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Phisherman" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 17:20:06 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:8cojd.475638$mD.183276@attbi_s02...

"Dan" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 18:01:23 -0600, Mark Anderson
wrote:

Saturate with water. Rosemary wants tons of water. Rootbound plants
need even more. Give lots of nitrogen, too (I feed it manure tea)
and
a handful of lime sprinkled around the dirt..

I've also had tough luck with Rosemary, but somehow this plant is
over
a year old and about 3 feet tall (no flowers yet). I believe the
major trick is "EXCESSIVE watering". Don't believe the ads when they
say "drought tolerant"

You can't be farther away from the truth - rosemary does not need
"excessive" watering, will resent it if you do, plus it requires
minimal
fertilizing as well. As with most plants native to a temperate zone, it
is
not happy being grown in the house. And it needs time to acclimatize
from
being outside. Keep in very bright but indirect light, water sparingly
and
increase humidity levels by adding a glass or two of water to the
general
vicinity. Keep out of drafts or away from direct sources of heat.

pam - gardengal



I agree about the humidity, although I say this only in theory, because
I'm
still struggling with MY rosemary plants. I recall reading that they grow
mightily along the Mediterrean coastline, in weird rocky soil, like beach
roses. Does that point to more lime, rather than the typical bagged
potting
soil, which contains lots of peat moss?


A small amount of agricultural lime, perhaps a tablespoon to 4 quarts
of potting soil, should be enough. Put the mixture through a hardware
cloth screen a couple times to integrate the lime. You can overdo
the lime and kill the plant. For a plant already potted, you can put
a teaspoon of *clear* household ammonia in a quart of water. (Today
it seems difficult to purchase clear ammonia due to the demand
increase of meth lab chemists.)

Ammonia??? I actually have the basic unadulterated stuff. It's really OK to
use on plants? Wait...let's do this another way. I just bought a soil test
kit and unless there's some law against it, I think I'm allowed to use it on
potting soil as well as outdoor soil. What's the correct pH range for
rosemary? Any idea?

This raises another question: Who's more of a problem? The meth lab
scientists, or the armies of Martha Stewart wannabees who gave the cleaning
products industry a reason to come up with crap like "meadow dream" scented
ammonia? Next thing you know, we'll pull up to the gasoline pumps and find
"summer breeze high-test". :-)


Household ammonia can be used as a fertilizer and to increase pH. A
teaspoon to a gallon (not quart) of water is all I'd use, and then
only if the pH is under 6.4. Rosemary does well in neutral soil--(my
herb book says 6 to 7.5). If your rosemary soil pH tests in this
range, leave it alone. Use distilled water for your test (tap water
is not doesn't necessarily neutral.) As others have stated, the
worse thing for rosemary is wet soil.

Oh yeah. I'm sure everyone feels so much safer now that Martha is in
jail. Personally, she doesn't do anything for me, but the hatred
people have for her is something I don't understand.

Walmart now limits the sale of clear ammonia to one quart per
customer.

Frogleg wrote:

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 20:17:39 -0500, Dan wrote:

Does anyone know when the upright variety of rosemary starts
sprouting flowers? This one is 1 1/2 years old, 3 ft tall but no
flowers yet....a little upsetting But I am glad it's still
alive...the past two died & dried out in the pot.

The flowers aren't a prominent feature of rosemary. I've never noticed
if a plant had to be a certain age to produce flowers -- the rather
inconspicuous lavender flowers appear randomly in the foliage in
spring, I believe.

My one year old rosemary has yet to bloom, but the three year old
bloomed for the first time this spring and is blooming again now. I'm in
zone 6, TN, so I'm lucky to be able to keep them in the ground year
round. (The aloes and the bay laurel need to come in soon though.)

Kate

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 08:42:59 -0600, kate
wrote:



Frogleg wrote:

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 20:17:39 -0500, Dan wrote:

Does anyone know when the upright variety of rosemary starts
sprouting flowers? This one is 1 1/2 years old, 3 ft tall but no
flowers yet.

The flowers aren't a prominent feature of rosemary. I've never noticed
if a plant had to be a certain age to produce flowers -- the rather
inconspicuous lavender flowers appear randomly in the foliage in
spring, I believe.

My one year old rosemary has yet to bloom, but the three year old
bloomed for the first time this spring and is blooming again now. I'm in
zone 6, TN, so I'm lucky to be able to keep them in the ground year
round. (The aloes and the bay laurel need to come in soon though.)

I just ran outside and moved my Rosemary (in a pot) to the west side
of the house against a brick wall. Previous plant (in the ground) did
very well there for 15 yrs or so before succumbing to a disease.
Freeze warning tonight for SE Virginia.

I saw some Forsythia with a few blooms the other morning. Perhaps on a
similar schedule as your Rosemary. :-)

Frogleg in :

the rather
inconspicuous lavender flowers appear randomly in the foliage in
spring, I believe.

fl are speckly, but are nice looking when close enough. they bloom in Feb, about with almonds.

there's a cv with an odd name, Arp Beauty (googled) that;s said to be somewhat hardier. (texas?)

rosemary likes decent drainage. i'd avoid a heavy mix in a pot, but since rosemary uses a far-rooted dry-season strategy, you'll
have ot water frequently (or hack teh folaige back. but old wood won't resprout). winters are cool and rainy, and decent
drainage is not necessary then (but i wouldnt keep teh roots submerged!)

pH shouldnt be a problem in potting mix. i don't think rosemary is picky about pH. it's used as a mass groudcover, sometimes
commercially. and the bigger cvs (4' x big) are even tougher.



Phisherman in :

Martha is in
jail. Personally, she doesn't do anything for me, but the hatred
people have for her is something I don't understand.

maybe thye'd worked for her?

David Ross in :

In the
summer, it gets watered perhaps 3-4 times.

yeah, the cvs we have in CA are hardier than the driest cvs, so they're native to areas that get at least 5" rain during the months
CA gets at most .5"precip. (iirc from researching this years ago)

http://www.mediterraneangardensociet...ficinalis.html has some info.

What always makes me wonder about the pH is not the mix itself, but what it
becomes after being watered with tap water. At the moment, 3 of my 20 plants
have white mineral deposits on the surface of the soil. It's time to start
collecting rainwater or snow or whatever the hell's supposed to happen later
this week. Of course, that'll contain mercury, courtesy of the
Midwest....can't use that on the rosemary, since it's on the edible
list.....

" wrote in message
...
pH shouldnt be a problem in potting mix. i don't think rosemary is picky
about pH. it's used as a mass groudcover, sometimes
commercially. and the bigger cvs (4' x big) are even tougher.



Phisherman in
:

Martha is in
jail. Personally, she doesn't do anything for me, but the hatred
people have for her is something I don't understand.

maybe thye'd worked for her?

CA gets at most .5"precip. (iirc from researching this years ago)


Oh, I don't think you meant to say that.
There is a whole lot of CA that gets over .5" precip. Even over 5 ".
We in the Northern Sacramento Valley average 25 inches, October thru May. This
season since Oct 1, we already have 4.85 inches.
Paradise in the foothills gets into the 40 inch average
What about the North Coast, Eureka & Arcata? much more
If we count snow as precip. Lassen Nat Park gets average of 40 feet of snow!

Maybe you meant .5 inches during the summer months????

Emilie
NorCal Central Valley, not 'Death Valley'
:)



CA is a big,

Frogleg wrote:

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 20:17:39 -0500, Dan wrote:

Does anyone know when the upright variety of rosemary starts
sprouting flowers? This one is 1 1/2 years old, 3 ft tall but no
flowers yet....a little upsetting But I am glad it's still
alive...the past two died & dried out in the pot.

The flowers aren't a prominent feature of rosemary. I've never noticed
if a plant had to be a certain age to produce flowers -- the rather
inconspicuous lavender flowers appear randomly in the foliage in
spring, I believe.

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katz...?Rosm_off.html

My rosemary bush has a major rush of flowers in the spring. Some
branches are solid blue.

Nearby, there is a slope with a trailing rosemary where you can't
see foliage when the plants are in full bloom.

While individual flowers are quite small, the mass of flowers is
significant. Some varieties are indeed chosen because of their
bloom.

--
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/

David Ross wrote in message ...

My rosemary bush has a major rush of flowers in the spring. Some
branches are solid blue.

Nearby, there is a slope with a trailing rosemary where you can't
see foliage when the plants are in full bloom.

While individual flowers are quite small, the mass of flowers is
significant. Some varieties are indeed chosen because of their
bloom.

the one you have was bred for ground cover. Its taste is much inferior
to the one grown as a herb.

simy1 wrote:

David Ross wrote in message ...

My rosemary bush has a major rush of flowers in the spring. Some
branches are solid blue.

Nearby, there is a slope with a trailing rosemary where you can't
see foliage when the plants are in full bloom.

While individual flowers are quite small, the mass of flowers is
significant. Some varieties are indeed chosen because of their
bloom.

the one you have was bred for ground cover. Its taste is much inferior
to the one grown as a herb.

No, you apparently missed my earlier message in this thread. My
rosemary is not a ground cover. It's a bush taller than I am. The
trunk is about 2-3 inches in diameter at the ground. It was
purchased as an herb (more than 25 years ago). It has excellent
flavor and yet flowers profusely in the spring.

--
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/