Rosmarinus officinalis Pointe du Raz

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Pointe du Raz' is a variety of rosemary with a prostrate and creeping habit, ideal for beautifying the ground of a dry rockery or cascading down a stone wall. With its evergreen foliage and dense vegetation, it discourages weeds. In spring, it is covered with small blue-lilac flowers, veined with dark blue, where pollinating insects gather, a plentiful flowering that often extends into late summer and autumn in mild and dry climates. From its Mediterranean origins, it has retained a certain preference for warmth, summer drought, and relatively mild winters. Finally, unlike upright varieties, it ages well, regenerating spontaneously by layering. Offer it a dry slope or the rocky ground of a limestone plateau, and it will express all its vigour!

The officinal rosemary, called Rosmarinus officinalis, is a small shrub native to the Mediterranean basin belonging to the Lamiaceae family, which includes many medicinal and aromatic plants. In addition to its numerous food and therapeutic properties, this plant has long been attributed with the power to purify the air and ward off evil spirits. Around the Mediterranean, it was burned like incense. Depending on the regions and its natural environment, it has locally differentiated and shows quite varied characteristics of hardiness, habit, and flowering.

'Pointe du Raz' has a horizontal growth. This subshrub, between 10 and 50cm (3.9 - 19.7in) in height depending on the growing conditions (it will be more prostrate if exposed to strong and repeated winds), spreads over 1.20 to 1.50m (4 -5ft). Its growth is rather slow in poor and dry soil, much faster in rich and cooler soil, but in these conditions, its life will be shorter and its habit less dense. In colder climates, it flowers in spring, usually in March-April. In warmer ones, it can be in bloom as early as February, or even throughout the winter, in successive waves. Its flowering sometimes restarts in autumn. It is actually induced by the return of rain after a period of intense drought. 'Pointe du Raz' bears very small flowers that are gathered in clusters, resembling spikes, along the young branches. The evergreen foliage is composed of small, dark green, shiny, narrow leaves with a cottony and whitish undersurface. They have the particularity of being rolled up, giving them a linear appearance. This characteristic is an adaptation to drought. The 'Pointe du Raz' variety is slightly less hardy than the species; it will withstand well-drained soil down to -10°C/ -12°C (10.4 °F).

Compact, dense, bushy, adorned with flowers for a long period, perfuming the air and the kitchen, the officinal rosemary and its variations are interesting for quickly planting the setting of a dry garden, a rockery, or simply a arid area where the soil lacks thickness. They provide a well-adapted solution in the Mediterranean region, but also in certain regions of the Atlantic coast where very sandy soil does not retain moisture. It can be associated with other ground-cover plants such as Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chips', Callirhoe involucrata, Malvastrum lateritium, or Teucrium chamaedrys. It can also be planted in front of a low shrub mass composed of lavender, ground-cover roses 'The Fairy', Cistus, Ballota, creeping Ceanothus, and shrubby Potentillas. Planted above a wall, this humble prostrate plant will become spectacular, transformed into a large tapestry cascading over 2m (7ft 6in). It is an excellent nectar provider for bees, at a time of the year when flowers are still scarce.