Rosemary

Hi, I have 3 Rosemary bushes that we cut bits off for cooking occasionally but I was wondering whether they would benefit from a good spring prune?
Thanks

 

Wait until after they flower, next month hopefully. Then trim back, but don't cut back too hard as they don't grow back well (if at all) from brown wood. A trim, not a prune is best.

 

Thanks, They are in flower already!
I shall be gentle with them

 

Rosemary cuttings root fairly easily if you want to expand your stock.

 

I will bear that in mind as we are thinking of moving soon (ish) hopefully this year.
thanks

 

Speaking of Rosemary, we have a rather poorly looking bush at the moment with lots of what looks like dead or dying wood and the rest of the plant is not very vibrant. Would it be OK to trim back the brown stuff now so more energy is being put it to what is still growing? Or maybe it would be better to give it a feed and wait till after it flowers if it does at all.

 

Just be aware it won't re-grow from brown/dead wood.

I lost a Rosemary this winter - it survived the frosts, but the prolonged snow (weight?) and frost seemed to do for it. Maybe yours has suffered the same thing, they also like well drained, dry, sandy soil.

 

I have a rather sorry looking specimen in my front garden which had to be chopped back to old wood on one side because it was getting in the way of a gate. It's still growing well on top, but the bare old wood will never regenerate. I think elderly rosemary bushes can be a bit ugly in any case - lots of gnarled wood with no particular shape. It's probably best to follow Dave's advice and take regular cuttings. Hmmm. But I don't think removing my old plant would be an easy job ...

 

That's a good point about the snow, we have only just moved in so didn't have the garden when it was snowing, i didn't even consider it. Also i had to pull out a couple of trees that had self seeded from next to the roots of the rosemary so i thought that wouldn't of helped to much either. The soil is fairly good where it is and drains really well and the bush had obviously established itself well previously, so yeah i think the snow is probably the culprit.
It has survived somewhat, just it looks really thin but where there is growth it is coming back. Might just let it take advantage of the warmer weather and come back to it later.