I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

On Wed, 7 Sep 2016 17:37:19 Dan S. MacAbre wrote:

I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit
scruffy this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because
it's nice to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems,
I'm guessing that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

Not normally, but I have an overgrown rosemary bush which threw a shoot
from near the base and that shoot is now growing away quite vigorously.
I cut the overgrown part back little by little each year.

Unless you have such a shoot it's probably not wise to cut out the
overgrown part.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK

In article , Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

No. And it has anything from a 5 year lifetime upwards, depending
on the conditions, garden and God knows what. It layers fairly
easily, so put half bricks on top of a branch or two (burying some
not-too-old wood) and leave them for a year or so. When well
rooted, they can be cut off (and transplanted if wanted).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 07/09/2016 20:12, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

No. And it has anything from a 5 year lifetime upwards, depending
on the conditions, garden and God knows what. It layers fairly
easily, so put half bricks on top of a branch or two (burying some
not-too-old wood) and leave them for a year or so. When well
rooted, they can be cut off (and transplanted if wanted).

I find that a lot of rosemary grown in the UK is infected with some sort
of fungus that kills off a few branches every year - making it
effectively self pruning. The leaf nodes on the affected branches show a
sort of white fur not unlike woolly aphid but with straight fur. Shortly
afterwards the stem goes brown from the tip and dies back. I prune them
out as soon as I spot any signs of trouble. YMMV

Even with good drainage and a south facing dry spot it always seems to
be clinging on to life rather than thriving up here in North Yorks.

Larger gnarled dead pieces of rosemary look ornamental in a fern garden
- fortunately as you say healthy bits can be rooted down easily.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

Okay, thanks all. I think I'll start layering it.

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

I find that a lot of rosemary grown in the UK is infected with some sort
of fungus that kills off a few branches every year - making it
effectively self pruning. The leaf nodes on the affected branches show a
sort of white fur not unlike woolly aphid but with straight fur. Shortly
afterwards the stem goes brown from the tip and dies back. I prune them
out as soon as I spot any signs of trouble. YMMV

I don't think that it's an infection in the rosemary, initially. In
my garden, it's a similar rot but affects everything from the root
upwards. I am pretty sure that the rosemary is weakened by weather
(and rich soil), and what kills it is just whatever opportunistic
fungi happen to be local to the soil.

Whatever. The solution is to keep renovating it - layering is the
easiest, but people good with cuttings may prefer those. There are
some very old rosemary plants, so that isn't always needed, but it
seems to be unpredictable whether they will be long-lived or not
(though I am pretty sure that it's mainly location-dependent).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 08/09/2016 10:40, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

I find that a lot of rosemary grown in the UK is infected with some sort
of fungus that kills off a few branches every year - making it
effectively self pruning. The leaf nodes on the affected branches show a
sort of white fur not unlike woolly aphid but with straight fur. Shortly
afterwards the stem goes brown from the tip and dies back. I prune them
out as soon as I spot any signs of trouble. YMMV

I don't think that it's an infection in the rosemary, initially. In

It does seem to be a martyr to this paritcular white fungus though. It
gets killed slowly but inexorably once the stuff has got a hold.

my garden, it's a similar rot but affects everything from the root
upwards. I am pretty sure that the rosemary is weakened by weather
(and rich soil), and what kills it is just whatever opportunistic
fungi happen to be local to the soil.

Whatever. The solution is to keep renovating it - layering is the
easiest, but people good with cuttings may prefer those. There are
some very old rosemary plants, so that isn't always needed, but it
seems to be unpredictable whether they will be long-lived or not
(though I am pretty sure that it's mainly location-dependent).

I am fairly sure it would much prefer a dry rocky Mediterranean hillside
to our cold damp grey winters and my heavy clay soil. Surprised it
doesn't do a bit better on warmer sandy Cambridge soils.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote:
On 08/09/2016 10:40, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

I find that a lot of rosemary grown in the UK is infected with some sort
of fungus that kills off a few branches every year - making it
effectively self pruning. The leaf nodes on the affected branches show a
sort of white fur not unlike woolly aphid but with straight fur. Shortly
afterwards the stem goes brown from the tip and dies back. I prune them
out as soon as I spot any signs of trouble. YMMV

I don't think that it's an infection in the rosemary, initially. In

It does seem to be a martyr to this paritcular white fungus though. It
gets killed slowly but inexorably once the stuff has got a hold.

my garden, it's a similar rot but affects everything from the root
upwards. I am pretty sure that the rosemary is weakened by weather
(and rich soil), and what kills it is just whatever opportunistic
fungi happen to be local to the soil.

Whatever. The solution is to keep renovating it - layering is the
easiest, but people good with cuttings may prefer those. There are
some very old rosemary plants, so that isn't always needed, but it
seems to be unpredictable whether they will be long-lived or not
(though I am pretty sure that it's mainly location-dependent).

I am fairly sure it would much prefer a dry rocky Mediterranean hillside
to our cold damp grey winters and my heavy clay soil. Surprised it
doesn't do a bit better on warmer sandy Cambridge soils.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Ours has gone crazy this year. It's in a windy spot, which it probably
hates, and it's all blown to one side. There are a few dead twigs in
there, too; but I just noticed yesterday that it's almost doubled in
size this year, like it's roots have finally discovered some nice soil
that it likes. Our soil unfortunately has a lot of 80's rubble in it :-(

In article , Dan S. MacAbre wrote:

Ours has gone crazy this year. It's in a windy spot, which it probably
hates, and it's all blown to one side. There are a few dead twigs in
there, too; but I just noticed yesterday that it's almost doubled in
size this year, like it's roots have finally discovered some nice soil
that it likes. Our soil unfortunately has a lot of 80's rubble in it :-(

Actually, it probably likes that :-) Like Martin Brown, I am surprised
that it doesn't do better with me, but my garden has some fairly
aggressive fungi in the soil, and I lose quite a few plants to root
rot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:37:19 +0100, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:

I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

In my coarse gardening experience you can cut them back a long way as long
as you make sure there are plenty of green shoots on the wreckage.

As others have said, layer or take cuttings first just in case.

I have struck a load of Rosemary and a few Lavender cuttings this year and
they all seem to be doing well.

Which leaves me with the minor problem of what to do with the extra ones.

Cheers


Dave R



--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

On 09/09/2016 16:55, David wrote:
On Wed, 07 Sep 2016 17:37:19 +0100, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:

I'm looking at a Rosemary bush in the garden which has got a bit scruffy
this year. I don't want to accidentally kill it off, because it's nice
to have fresh Rosemary available, but looking at the stems, I'm guessing
that it doesn't grow from old wood. Or does it?

In my coarse gardening experience you can cut them back a long way as long
as you make sure there are plenty of green shoots on the wreckage.

As others have said, layer or take cuttings first just in case.

I have struck a load of Rosemary and a few Lavender cuttings this year and
they all seem to be doing well.

Which leaves me with the minor problem of what to do with the extra ones.

Cheers


Dave R




I've had great success with rosemary against a north facing fence i.e.
well protected, but virtually no direct sunlight or rainfall. I stick a
twig in the ground every 3 years or so, and ditch the main plant every
5. Come to think of it, plenty of Mediterranean herbs also do reasonably
well there. Go figure, as they say.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

In article ,
Stuart Noble wrote:

I've had great success with rosemary against a north facing fence i.e.
well protected, but virtually no direct sunlight or rainfall. I stick a
twig in the ground every 3 years or so, and ditch the main plant every
5. Come to think of it, plenty of Mediterranean herbs also do reasonably
well there. Go figure, as they say.

Right. In the UK, a lot of our sunlight is diffused, so a northern
but open aspect can be as good as a southern but closed one. And
there are a lot of plants from more arid regions that positively
like only a little direct rainfall! One of the more extreme is
Cyclamen coum, which thrives in a total rain shadow, but it is also
the only place I have got Passiflora incarnata to grow. Some people
like cacti, of course :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 12/09/2016 09:58, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Stuart Noble wrote:

I've had great success with rosemary against a north facing fence i.e.
well protected, but virtually no direct sunlight or rainfall. I stick a
twig in the ground every 3 years or so, and ditch the main plant every
5. Come to think of it, plenty of Mediterranean herbs also do reasonably
well there. Go figure, as they say.

Right. In the UK, a lot of our sunlight is diffused, so a northern
but open aspect can be as good as a southern but closed one. And
there are a lot of plants from more arid regions that positively
like only a little direct rainfall! One of the more extreme is
Cyclamen coum, which thrives in a total rain shadow, but it is also
the only place I have got Passiflora incarnata to grow. Some people
like cacti, of course :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


My cyclamen only grow where you can't see them :-)

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 08/09/2016 18:00, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 8 Sep 2016 15:49:18 -0000 (UTC), (Nick
Maclaren) wrote:

my garden has some fairly
aggressive fungi in the soil, and I lose quite a few plants to root
rot.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Interesting comment. Not relating to the OP's post, but I'd recently
taken cuttings of four different evergreen azaleas. After they'd
rooted, I transplanted them into a mix of roughly 75% sieved but
coarse garden compost, 12.5% grit, 12.5% Perlite, watered them in and
put them in a shady spot out of direct sun under the staging in the
greenhouse. Within three days most of them had died! I was obviously
disappointed, but also puzzled, especially at the speed of their
demise. All the cuttings had excellent root systems, and the compost
hadn't dried out nor was it waterlogged, so my conclusion was that
there was something else wrong with it, and I've now ditched what was
left. Aggressive fungi sounds like a good candidate.

Fortunately, there's still time to take a second batch of cuttings,
and I'll be more circumspect with the potting-on compost!


I'm sure you're knowledgeable enough to have used ericaceous compost?
.... but thought it worth asking.
--
Spider
On high ground in SE London
Gardening on heavy clay