Use of Rosemary Bushes in Landscaping

Hedges

• Upright rosemary bushes grow 4 to 6 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide. They grow easily in rocky or poor soil as long as they receive up to 1 inch of water a week in drought conditions but don't sit in wet soil. These conditions make rosemary bushes suitable for hedge locations, because hedges are often located at the edge of a drive or property, where water is irregular and soil is marginal. As informal, unpruned hedges, rosemary bushes grow with long upward branches like pine trees. For formal hedges, rosemary bushes are sheared so that new growth forms a dense, thick hedge.

Ground Cover

• Trailing or prostrate rosemary bushes can be grown as ground covers, their woody branches spreading along the ground or trailing over rocks. Sprawling branches root where they rest on the ground and grow as adjacent plants. This makes rosemary an effective ground cover for rock gardens or cobble-clay hillsides. Break off the rooted branches to start new plants. Rosemary bushes used as ground cover need little water and are easily maintained in xeriscapes with drip irrigation.

Containers

• Container plants must often adapt to low water and modest soil conditions, since containers dry quickly and rarely receive natural soil replenishment from falling leaves or nearby decaying vegetation. Rosemary bushes do well under these circumstances as long as they're protected from prolonged cold or heat extremes. Trailing rosemary is favored for window planters or large patio containers because its branches trail down the side of the containers. Rosemary partners well with other plants, such as marigolds, that need 6 or more hours of sunlight daily.

Accents

• When the branches of an upright rosemary bush are clipped into a cone or pyramid shape, they fill the tree shape with dense, small branches to resemble a pine or Christmas tree. Rosemary bushes also tolerate pruning into topiary shapes, because the bushes can be trimmed at any time of year to maintain the desired shape. For a living garden wreath, the rosemary bush can be shaped into an upright circle. Branches may be trained or tied to a wire or grapevine framework to form the design.