Rosemaries

My latest fixation has been rosemaries. Actually, this one comes and goes, with more coming than going. Of course, part of it has to do with my being a “Mediterraneophile” as David Cristiani (www.thequercusgroup.com) likes to call me. On my last trip to California, many of the rosemaries were in bloom. Some were simply covered with various shades of blue, so dense that the leaves were hidden. Some were prostrate forms, others had artistic spare twisted branches, others mounding and some strictly upright. Sigh. Fortunately, unlike Ceanothus, we can grow rosemary in Albuquerque.

Rosemary has a lot going for it. How many plants can you think of that has evergreen foliage, a moderate and garden-friendly size, is non-invasive, has incredible blue flowers, doesn’t need much water, takes pruning, and can bloom in the winter? I’d say that’s a tough bill to fill. To top it off, it is edible. And deliciously edible as well, although some varieties are better than others. ‘Tuscan Blue’ supposedly is a favorite among chefs with a strong influence of lemon in its leaves. As I’m writing this, my ‘Tuscan Blue’ rosemary has a scattering of cobalt blue flowers on some of its branches. It’s FEBRUARY. In Albuquerque! It also had some flowers at the new year. Remember January 1 this year? My garden was buried in 24” of snow, the miserable shrubs bent to the ground by the weight of it all. My 5 foot scrub oaks (Quercus turbinella) were 1 foot mounds of snow. The rosemary was flattened as well.



Feeling sorry for them, I waded into the branches, trying not to break anything (either the plant or myself) and pulled off the snow, handful by handful. To my surprise, the rosemary had a few bright blue flowers on their branches.

This was particularly surprising to me because ‘Tuscan Blue’ has been a bit reluctant to flower in my yard. It’s most likely due to the fact that I have it planted in a spot that doesn’t get full sun. It misses part of the morning. The ‘Tuscan Blue’ that I saw at High Country Gardens was absolutely covered with brilliant blue flowers, but it was growing in the greenhouse, and I want to grow mine outdoors.

The only downside to rosemary is that it isn’t quite fully hardy here. My ‘Tuscan Blue’ rosemary always gets some leaf tip burn every winter, and even some tips of branches die back. The photo above shows the flowers from today (not a lot, but heck, this is February), but a lot of tip burn. This is disappointing since it detracts from the flower show. I think that this sensitivity of the young foliage to winter cold is a problem for the blooming as well. I notice that rosemary still grows in the winter, developing its flower buds. The cold may freeze these off. When I grew ‘Arp’ it also had leaf tip burn, even though it wasn’t as obvious on the grey leaves.

I’m searching for the perfect rosemary plant. It must be tasty, resistant to winter tip burn, have brilliant blue flowers and be upright. If you look at catalogs or on-line (www.goodwincreekgardens.com is a good one), there are dozens of named varieties, each with its own version of form, grey to green leaves, and white to blue flowers. In Albuquerque, I have no aversion to the prostrate forms (as Ted does) but not only are they somewhat less hardy than the upright forms,but my yard simply doesn’t have the room for them (although after seeing the brilliant blue flowers of ‘Irene’ at High Country Gardens, I may try to sneak one in). My friend Dave has a plant that forms a nice mound of green, and in the spring is covered with bright blue flowers. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember the name of it. I suspect it might be “Herb Cottage” as I think the nursery he bought it from was selling it at that time, and it does fit the description. It’s not upright enough for my uses, although in another garden such as his, it is great. Will has some plants in his yard that he bought from Home Depot as “Rosemary officinalis” as 1” tall sprigs. The plants are predominantly upright, show little winter tip burn, and are absolutely covered in pale blue flowers in the spring. They even rebloom decently in the summer. They aren’t the blue I’m looking for, but I can’t help but love them.

I tried a couple of new rosemaries last year, after a trip to Oregon’s The Thyme Garden (on-line at www.thymegarden.com) where I picked up one of ‘Gorizia’ (double sized leaves and flowers) and ‘Blue Spires’ (strictly upright and bright blue flowers). ‘Gorizia’ is planted against a north wall, but has shown no tip burn whatsoever. It didn’t fare so well with the snow, however, with several branches breaking. The flowers are a disappointing very pale blue, almost unseen among the leaves. ‘Blue Spires’ is indeed upright with bright blue flowers (not as dark as ‘Tuscan Blue’) and last year showed no tip burn in a pot. This year, after being covered with snow for several weeks, there is quite a bit of tip burn. I suspect that being in a pot above ground in an exposed South site has been a bit much for it. Still, through January, I could see small buds forming among the leaves. It may be the temperature fluctuations are less on the north wall, and this may prevent the leaf burn. This year I’m going to try a couple more: ‘Salem’ which is supposed to be hardier, upright and with deep blue (Forestfarm calls it fluorescent blue) flowers. ‘Frimley Blue’ is supposed to have grey leaves, upright, but I can’t find out what the flowers are like except “spotted.” I hope it’s better than ‘Arp’ which had grey leaves, grew so quickly that the branches flopped out, and had very pale blue flowers. I’m also going to try a semi-prostate (gasp!) rosemary called ‘Severn Sea’ which is said to form “graceful abstract shapes.”
I’ll keep trying until I find the perfect plant. In the meantime, anyone want a couple of ‘Tuscan Blue?’