In article ,
David Rance wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 dido22 wrote:

Has anyone grown a Rosemary bush before?, does it survive the winter?,
does it smell & taste as good as a new plant does ?

Of course it does. I've had a rosemary bush in my garden for over twenty
years. The weight of the snow back in January caused it to bend over but
it recovered, is still going strong and is flowering at the moment. Cut
a couple of sprigs yesterday to cook with some lamb shanks.

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
after a few years, and carry on with the new plants if the main one
dies. All you have to do for the normal straggling forms is to
tuck a couple of stems just under the soil and put half a brick or
a comparable stone on them. DON'T cut them off, and just forget
them for a couple of years. You can then cut the stem between the
layer and the main plant, and dig the layer up to put somewhere else.
Or not, as you prefer - it can be left in place.

That's the easiest form of propagation known to gardeners, and works
with many straggling shrubs.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.