How to grow rosemary

Rosemary is a woody, evergreen perennial herb with narrow, needle-like leaves and a resinous, pine-like fragrance that carries into cooking. Native to Mediterranean hillsides, it grows into a shrub over several seasons where winters stay mild, and gardeners in colder regions often keep it in a container that can move indoors or to a sheltered spot for winter. A single established plant supplies a household's rosemary needs year-round, since a light harvest of stems regrows quickly and the plant tolerates being cut back through the growing season.

The hardest part of growing rosemary well is resisting the urge to water it like a vegetable. North Carolina State Extension calls overwatering the number one killer of rosemary, since the plant does not tolerate wet feet, and University of Illinois Extension adds that rosemary grown in open garden soil also transplants poorly, which makes a container the safer way to move it for winter anyway. A second-year gardener who waters rosemary on the same schedule as nearby tomatoes or basil ends up drowning the roots in slow motion, and the needles brown and drop months later, by which point the root rot underneath is already done.