Rosmarinus officinalis - Rosemary

Rosemary, in Latin Rosmarinus officinalis, is a shrub of Mediterranean scrubland that needs no introduction. Famous for its characteristic aromatic foliage, essential in cooking, star of aromatherapy, it is also an excellent plant for dry gardens, planted as a low hedge, in rockeries or in a small shrub bed. With its evergreen foliage and allelopathic properties, it inhibits the germination of weeds. Spring covers it with small flowers of a soft lavender blue, where pollinating insects gather, an abundant flowering that often continues at the end of summer and in autumn in mild and dry climates. From its origins, it has retained a certain taste for sun, heat, summer drought, and relatively mild winters. Give it a dry slope or the rocky ground of a plateau, and it will express all its generosity!

Rosemary is a small shrub native to the Mediterranean basin. It belongs to the Lamiaceae family, which includes many medicinal and aromatic plants. In addition to its numerous food and therapeutic properties, this plant was long believed to have the power to purify the air and ward off evil spirits. Around the Mediterranean, it was burned as incense. Depending on the regions and its natural environment, it has locally differentiated itself, showing quite varied characteristics of hardiness, habit, and flowering.

The typical form of rosemary is an undershrub, reaching a height and width of 1 m (3.3 ft) to 1.50 m (4.92 ft) depending on the growing conditions (it will be more compact and bushy if regularly exposed to strong winds). Its growth is quite slow in poor and dry soil, much faster in rich and moister soil, but in these conditions, its life will be shorter, and its habit less dense. In northern France, it flowers in spring, usually in April-May. In the south of the country, it blooms as early as February-March, or even all winter. Its flowering sometimes resumes in autumn. It bears very small flowers that are gathered in clusters that resemble spikes along the young branches. The evergreen foliage is composed of small, green, glossy, narrow leaves with a cottony and whitish underside. They have the peculiarity of being rolled up on themselves, giving them a linear appearance. This characteristic is an adaptation to drought. Rosemary will withstand very well-drained soil down to -12°C/-14°C (10.4 to 6.8°F) at its lowest.

Dense, bushy, laden with flowers and bees, perfuming the air and the kitchen, rosemary and its varieties are interesting for quickly planting the landscape of a dry garden, a rockery, or simply a dry area where the soil lacks depth. They provide a well-suited solution in the Mediterranean region, as well as in certain regions of the Atlantic coast where very sandy soil does not retain moisture. It can be associated with plants that thrive in dry conditions such as Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chip', Callirhoe involucrata, an aromatic sage, or even Teucrium chamaedrys. It can also be planted in a bed of low shrubs composed of lavenders, cistuses, ballotes, evergreen ceanothus, and shrubby potentillas. It is an excellent source of nectar for bees at a time of year when flowers are still scarce.