The Colors of Rosemary Plants

Blue Flowers

• Most varieties of rosemary have blue flowers. Variety "Arp" has medium blue flowers and is the hardiest of the rosemary varieties. "Blue Spires" and "Benenden Blue" also have medium blue flowers. "Hill Hardy" -- a compact rosemary -- and "Severn Sea," -- a trailing variety -- have light blue flowers while "Hugtington Carpet" has sky blue blooms. Another light blue variety is "Dutch Mill," a plant that is very hardy down to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit. If you're looking for deep blue flowers, consider "Collingwood Ingram" or "Ken Taylor" but these are not suitable to spice foods with because they taste strongly of pine.

Violet Flowers

• There are a few violet-flowered rosemary varieties. "Miss Jessup's Upright" has pale violet flowers while "Tuscan Blue" has deep violet flowers. Tuscan Blue is one of the most widely available varieties and, in areas where it's winter hardy, it is also one of the tallest varieties of rosemary, growing up to 7 feet tall but only 2 feet across. "Blue Lady" has blue-violet flowers.

White and Pink Flowers

• One variety of rosemary has white flowers, "Nancy Howard," while another, "Albus," has mostly white flowers -- it has pale lavender veins on the flowers. Albus is one of the tallest and broadest varieties of rosemary, reaching 6 feet high and equally as wide. Variety "Pinkie" is a dwarf variety with pink flowers as the name implies while "Majorca Pink" is darker than a true pink.

Foliage Colors

• Aside from the flowers, rosemary varies in foliage color as well. Generally, rosemary foliage tends to be blue-green with a whitish overtone. Notable varieties include "Golden Rain," a medium-sized plant that reaches 3 feet tall and wide. The leaves of Golden Rain have dark veins accenting its gold leaves. "Gorizia," a larger variety which tops out at 5 feet, has red-brown stems and light blue flowers. Collingwood Ingram has light green stems and contrasting dark green leaves.