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How to Grow Rosemary

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The rosemary plant is blue-green with needle-like foliage as well as a compelling fragrance which contribute to make this tender and perennial plant a favorite with gardeners. Rosemary seeds germinate erratically and slowly hence the common practice of propagating them through cuttings. Although a glass of water is sufficient for rooting the Rosemary plant, additional effort offers more favorable results.

The chosen site should be capable of getting full direct sunlight as well as a light afternoon shade and excellent drainage.

  • Raised beds are ideal for rosemary which prefers average to poor soil with a 6.5 to 7.0 pH.
  • Set the transplants aground at a similar depth to the one at the nursery pots.
  • A minimum of 2 feet should be spared around the plant to guarantee favorable air circulation.
  • Clip sprigs or leaves anytime they are required.

Growth of Rosemary in Cold Climates

  • Buy started plants from nurseries for planting during early spring.
  • Clay pots should be used and the required proportions are at least a depth of 12 inches and a width of 12 inches as well as many drainage holes.
  • The clay pots should then be filled it with coarse and light potting mix, for example cactus soil and an addition of perlite. Set the plants into new quarters while ensuring the depth is similar to the primary one at the nursery pots.
  • After the frost danger passes, harden off the plants and moved outdoors
  • Ensure regular watering is done while making sure the soil is vaguely moist but not wet. During early summer and spring, compost tea should be fed to the plants on a monthly basis.
  • The plants should be brought back indoors way before the foremost frost and put in a sunlit area west-or-south facing window. If there is scarcity of winter sunlight in the house, the supply should be augmented the supply using fluorescent lights.
  • Keep the soil moist by watering tepid water to the plants twice in one week.
  • Clip sprigs or leaves anytime they are needed.

Rosemary repels bean beetles and cabbage moths and is a plant that should be planted where it is intended to stay because it resents being transplanted. For the ideal selection of orchid plants, it is recommendable to purchase rosemary plants from herb specialists. When winter temperatures drop below thirty degrees Fahrenheit, it is generally advisable to plant the plant containers preferably terracotta all year to avoid transplanting.

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Spring garden maintenance complete and front boulevard planted

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I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by to express their condolences on the loss of Chris’ cousin who was a very good friend of ours. I was supposed to be in another city and attending the visitations today, but I got really sick yesterday and our car broke down. So I’m home tonight … Chris can’t even drive back to pick me up as our car hasn’t been repaired yet. You can read a more detailed explanation of what happened on my main blog if you’d like.

So on to garden related stuff …

Last week, in preparation for Green Thumb Sunday, I went out into my yard and took pictures of most of the plants that were either coming up or that were blooming.

The garden looks very nice this year. Chris and I spent two days last weekend cleaning up the garden – trimming plants, getting rid of dead foliage, pruning roses and putting some compost that we picked up at a local park on Saturday thanks to Toronto’s Earth days’. (That’s a green recycling program where the city gives back the compost from the green garbage and other yard related wastes it’s picked up the year prior).

Needless to say my back took a beating and ached for a few days after I over did it in the garden. The effort payed off though as we had cooler temperatures and some rain last week and that really perked up the garden. Since the beds were tidier I could really see how my plants were progressing.

IMG_3325 Now you might remember a post I made about a month ago. It was the one where I showed photos of our front yard still covered in snow and photos of our planted boulevard that I had spent the day cleaning up.

Well the front boulevard looks even nicer now! I planted some peonies that I’d purchased in early April as well as some Dahlias, Gay Feather and a few other plants to go along with the plants that have been growing there for a few years (iris, daylilies, malva, salvia, tulips) and we placed our short bamboo fence in front of it to finish off the look and protect the garden from the teens that like to stand outside my house talking before they go their separate ways after school.

This is what it looks like now:

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and from another angle:

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Just to give you a complete picture of how the front garden looks I’ll throw in a photo of the front flower beds too:

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Now most of my plants are in the backyard. In a day or two I’ll post some photos of how the backyard garden looks right now and maybe a few photos of what’s blooming.

I hope your gardens are doing well right now!

Growing Monkshood

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It’s amazing how many plants are coming up in my garden. Every time I either look outside or go outside to look at the garden I notice how much the plants have grown or new green shoots coming up in areas that were barren the day before.

The monkshood is already making an appearance:

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This is Monkshood Aconitum Arendsii Azure Blue.

The new leaves are coming up amid the old stalks that I still have to remove! Usually I tidy up the garden beds in the fall, but I didn’t really do that last year. Even when I clean up the garden in the autumn I’ll often still leave a few plant stalks or a leaf or two so that come spring I can remember where the plant is planted.

I do have plant markers in the garden, but most have been there for four or five years now and they are barely legible or they’ve snapped in the cold so there’s only half of the plants name.

I grow another kind of Monkshood at the back of the garden near the holly shrub. It’s a bicolor Monkshood and I’ve forgotten it’s full name.

Now I know I have several photos of the Azure Blue Monkshood but I can’t find any of them right now. Odd. I do have a photo of the BiColor Monkshood as it’s beginning to bloom though.

Monkshood Aconitum

The bicolor Monkshood usually blooms twice a season. Often once in July and then in Mid to Late September. The Azure Blue only blooms once in late August through into September.

Monkshood is very easy to grow, but you must remember that it’s a poisonous plant. I’m a little nervous about growing it now that we have a Labrador Retriever puppy, but I don’t think she’ll be allowed in the backyard very often and certainly not unsupervised.

Monkshood can be grown in shade or bright sunlight. It does best with at least 6 hours of bright sunlight each day. Depending on the species it grow from 30 inches to approx. 36 inches in height.

This plant does best in rich, moist, humusy soil. It doesn’t like being disturbed once it’s established but it can be propagated through division.

There are several species and hybrids of Monkshood. Some will rebloom if the flowers are removed shortly after they’ve finished blooming as with my bicolor monkshood and others are of the fall blooming variety.

Monkshood is a beautiful plant that adds a lovely touch of color to the garden bed. Even it’s foliage is attractive. Just remember that all parts of the plant are poisonous!

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