Trimming Rosemary

Hi,

Moved into a new build house in an estate last year and out the front the builders had planted a few plants ( a bit of a clean-up needed there which is another days work)a rosemary bush was planted in the patch.
So maybe 10 months on now, the Rosemary bush seems to have lost its shape looks like a cat or something sat on it :D.

Some of the ends of the branches are bending. The OH trimmed a few of them back but it still looks quite flairy.
To add, the area where the rosemary is, is north facing and gets little or no sun.
Some flowers have appeared more noticeable in recent weeks on the bush.

What should we do in terms of best practice? I have attached a few pics but hard to get a good pic of what it looks like to the naked eye currently.

Thank you

 

Rosemary grows best in a sunny position in well drained soil so if you have a suitable location elsewhere it would be better to move it. They do respond well to quite severe pruning too so you can reduce the size of your plant to encourage bushier, upright growth. I had a large one here which I used to prune with a hedge trimmer!

 

I have rosemary growing in light shade for most of the day and a bit of sun in the afternoon West facing in dry clay. It is doing a little too well for my taste.

 

Thanks, back garden gets the sun in most parts but soil is poor draining/moist, which I am separately trying to improve.
Would rather leave it where it is (front garden) for now at least, maybe look to move it next year. In fairness it has grown well where it currently is.

What is severe pruning for a Rosemary bush? How far back should I cut it? Do I run a risk of killing it if I am too severe?

Thank you

 

You could reduce the size of the stems by a third to start with but let it finish flowering first. They also grow well in containers so that’s another consideration. There are some prostrate varieties of Rosemary that grow outwards and downwards but I don’t think yours is one of them, although it could be! They all prefer sun and well drained or even impoverished soil.

 

The prostrate ones aren't so hardy. I lost one in a fairly mild winter - but it was in a container. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

 

I'd agree about moving it. Ultimately, it will do better if it isn't trying to get enough light during the growing season. If the soil's rich it will also tend to be more lush, and therefore a bit lax, so pruning it back will help. They get woodier as they mature too, so keeping it trimmed is helpful.
I always had to pot it up when I grew it, so that it could be overwintered undercover, but if it's managing winters where you are, it would just need a better site to thrive.

 

I have found that both upright and prostrate varieties of Rosemary start to shed their leaves regularly after a few of years. As the plants get larger, if they are near paths or paving the sweeping up becomes a chore and I now only grow a small upright variety in a container.

 

The problem with it here is that it gets quite soft and lush through summer, because it's wet, but warm enough, for lots of growth. Then the winter arrives, and they can't cope.
I expect if we continue to get the warm winters we've had for the last few years here, that might change, but it's why I'd always try and keep it pruned if I was growing it now, to avoid that soft growth suddenly being adversely affected by the temps dropping in autumn, and then the wet cold of winter, resulting in woody stems. It's clay soil here too, so it tends to be more nutritious, which probably isn't ideal. Previously, it was simply too cold and wet in winter for it to do well enough. I'd expect Kildare will have the same problem re rain in summer creating that plentiful growth.
It's the same with lavender - it gets a lot of rain so it grows larger and lusher, and that gets affected by the autumn/winter weather.