Rosemary.
Rosmarinus officinalis.
Affectionately “Dew of the Sea” in Latin, also referred to as “Anthos” in Greek, or “flower.”
It makes a delicious, comforting roasted chicken, especially when it’s plucked straight from the homestead garden.
Walk through the Rosemary bed on a warm summer day, and you’ll be greeted with an aromatic burst of the Mediterranean.
Not only that; but also a sense of relief; because who doesn’t love a drought-tolerant herb that rarely needs water?
This evergreen perennial may seem hard to propagate, but you’ll be pleased to discover that it’s incredibly easy!
If you want to increase the number of Rosemary plants in your garden to satisfy your need for Rosemary in the kitchen (as well as for friends and family who can’t seem to stay out of those gorgeous bushes you’ve so lovingly grown!), take a stab at rooting some cuttings!
You’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you can do with a single sprig cutting of Rosemary.
Growing Rosemary from Cuttings
Before you begin rooting Rosemary cuttings, I strongly recommend starting the cuttings at just the right time for your zone. For many people, this might seem like the middle of summer. However, I say do it in the middle of the winter! During the winter, the plants must come inside. Many times, you must supply artificial lighting to keep them happy. By taking cuttings during the winter months, you can root the small cuttings leading into spring. Once spring arrives, they can go out into the garden to serve their purpose as an annual, or you can bring them in during the following winter. They will also make great gifts for family, as well! Let’s get started!
- First, choose the healthiest sprigs on the healthiest plants. New growth tends to root more easily; but you can use wooded growth as well. The most important characteristic of cuttings is that they are healthy and ready to root!
- Cut the sprigs at an angle, approximately 4″ to 6″ in length. I recommend cutting at least twice as many sprigs as you want plants for rooting, in case some fail. If you have extra starts, you could always gift them, sell them, or barter them!
- Choose a clean, sterile jar to root the cuttings in. Fill it to approximately 2″to 4″ full of distilled water, spring water, or well water; let’s steer clear of chlorinated water.
- Clear all of the leaves off of the lower 3/4 of the cuttings. Leave between 2 and 6 leaves, depending on how large the leaves are. You want the plant to be able to produce energy to feed itself during rooting, but you do not want the plant stressing to care for a full branch of foliage.
- Once all of the excess leaves have been cut, place the cuttings, cut side down, into the jar of clean water.
- Leave the cuttings in a lit area, out of direct sunlight, and change the water every few days to provide added oxygen, reduce the risk of rotting, and to remove any algae or bacteria that may colonize the jar.
- Within 2 to 4 weeks, you should begin to see root development on the rosemary cuttings! Allow the roots to grow to around 1/2″.
- Once the roots have erupted on each cutting, grab a pot of well draining, dampened soil mix (Rosemary strongly dislikes wet feet!), and carefully plant the cutting into the soil. Be careful, as those roots are very tender and can easily break. The plant will not usually have enough energy to replace the root if it breaks.
- TIP: Pens, pencils, and screwdrivers are excellent for making deep holes in the soil mix for small cuttings. Just push it in, drop the cutting in, and back fill with soil. ENSURE that the soil makes good contact with the cutting, but do not compact the soil around it.
- TIP: Pens, pencils, and screwdrivers are excellent for making deep holes in the soil mix for small cuttings. Just push it in, drop the cutting in, and back fill with soil. ENSURE that the soil makes good contact with the cutting, but do not compact the soil around it.
- Do not allow the soil to dry out completely during the first month or two of planting. You need to ensure that the plant is producing tender, new growth, signaling that the plant is becoming established in its new home.
- Viola! Enjoy your beautiful, new, thriving, young Rosemary plants for years to come! Isn’t it amazing how we can produce an endless amount of entirely new plants with one mother plant and a glass of water? Mother Nature is a beautiful force, and she always provides in the most amazing of ways!
Will the Cuttings be Any Different from the Mother Plant?
Your cuttings are not only going to be just like the mother plant; they are the mother plant! Propagating by rooting cuttings is a form of cloning. This is the same process used in the production of rose bushes, fruit tree propagation, and many other perennial plants.
Therefore, if you enjoy a particular feature that a plant offers (such as resistance to particular pest or disease), you can propagate that plant through root cuttings and have many plants with that same feature. Try taking a cutting from any of these Rosemary varieties:
Albus, Arp, Aureus, Benenden Blue, Blue Boy, Blue Rain,
Golden Rain, Gold Dust, Haifa, Irene, Lockwood de Forest,
Ken Taylor, Majorica Pink, Miss Jessop’s Upright, Pinkie,
Prostratus, Pyramidalis (or Erectus), Remembrance (or Gallipoli),
Roseus, Salem, Severn Sea, Sudbury Blue, Tuscan Blue, or Wilma’s Gold.
Now, it’s important to note that not all plant species can be propagated through root cuttings successfully. This is true for a wide variety of reasons.
- Some plants are annuals, and are only intended to be grown for a season, give or take. Rooting a cutting would be fairly wasteful in this case, as the plant may never reach maturity.
- Other plants have a unique growth structure, meaning that the cuttings could be weak or unable to thrive. In blackberries, for example, a second year cane would not be a good candidate for cloning; however, fresh canes are!
- Some plants are not capable of rooting in water; however, they may root with rooting hormone.
Will a Rosemary Plant Cutting “Come Back” If It Dies from Freezing or a Lack of Water, Sunlight, or Fertilizer?
Unfortunately, once a Rosemary plant dies from poor care, it dies.
Freezing temperatures can kill the plant on a cellular level, as the plant is not bred to handle the cold. It is only hardy to USDA Zone 8, for the hardier varieties.
If the plant dies from a lack of sunlight and water, it will not come back at all, either. If you catch it before it is completely dead, you might be able to save some of the plant; however, you may have many dead branches and leaves.
If your plant dies out completely, I recommend starting new plants from Rosemary seed. This can take a bit of time and patience, but the plants are fairly easy to grow from seed! It is also a very cost effective way to replace lost plants.
Another tip is to use up the dead plant. You can allow the entire plant to dry out completely, and save the dried herb for cooking! Even if you have to buy a new, young plant at the gardening shop, your old plant will probably yield more dried herb for cooking than the young plant is worth out of pocket!