Herbs
Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus
Timings for your region
Suggested: Moderate · Explained in the glossary
Never sown — young plants go straight into the bed.
Plantingmid May – mid June
Harvestearly April – late November
Practical tip
Only the hardy varieties reliably come through a German winter outdoors — grown in a pot it can simply move to a cool, bright spot for the winter.
Origin & history
Rosemary grows wild along Mediterranean coasts, often within sight of the water — the Latin name ros marinus, “dew of the sea”, alludes to that. Botanically it has only been Salvia rosmarinus since 2017: genetic work showed it sits inside the sage genus, so the separate genus Rosmarinus was dissolved. In Central Europe it remained a container plant of monastery and manor gardens for centuries, because it did not survive the winters outdoors.
Varieties
With rosemary the buying decision is not about flavour but about hardiness — the differences in aroma between varieties are small. Upright selections explicitly sold as hardy, such as “Veitshöchheim”, “Arp” or “Blue Winter”, have the best chance in mild wine-growing regions and against a sheltered south wall; the flat creeping forms are the most tender and belong in a pot. Sowing is barely worth it: rosemary germinates slowly and unevenly and the seedlings vary a great deal — cuttings from a proven plant are the reliable route.
Care
In the ground rosemary needs almost no water once established, in a pot it needs it regularly — the commonest cause of death is a root ball that has dried out completely, often in its winter quarters where watering gets forgotten. Feed at most once in spring and very sparingly; plenty of nitrogen pushes soft shoots that are the first to freeze. Prune after flowering, by a third at most and only into leafy wood — like thyme and sage it reshoots only reluctantly from old bare wood. From September onwards, leave the secateurs alone.
What can go wrong
Frost-killed rosemary is usually not frost-killed at all but dried out: on sunny frosty days the evergreen needles lose water the frozen roots cannot replace, and the shoots go brown and brittle from the tips down. Shading with brushwood or fleece, a mulch over the root zone and a pot that does not stand directly on cold stone help more than any wrapping of the crown. In winter quarters scale insects and mildew turn up where it stands too warm, too dark and too crowded — move it lighter and cooler, space the plants out, wipe the insects off and cut out affected shoots.
Harvest, storage & kitchen
Harvest the soft shoot tips of the current year — on an established plant, nearly all year round. Rosemary is the strongest of these herbs: one sprig is enough for a whole roast, and you take it out again before serving because the needles stay hard. It stands up to long cooking and is classic with lamb, potatoes and focaccia; stripped stems make usable skewers for the grill. Since it is almost always available fresh, drying is rarely worth the trouble.
All timings are guide values for the given climate, not a guarantee. Weather, aspect and variety all have a say.