On Growing Rosemary 2013

My Deer Repellent Rosemary

Note:  This is the very first article I posted on this blog — I thought it important enough to repost.  (June 2013)

At this writing we have three beautiful clusters of rosemary growing here – one in the garden , one in a flower bed next to the house and one in a pot.  Some years ago I saw an ad in the Georgia Market Bulletin and the lady was selling deer-repellent rosemary— but no shipping.  In recent years we have a few deer here on the mountain, but not in the yard yet.  Our oldest daughter (in Georgia) is plagued with them to the point she can grow nothing so I called and ask the seller to hold rosemary for me.  How I got it is another story.  Our youngest daughter, who lives on the east side of Atlanta, is working on her doctorate at the University of Georgia and she drove the 30 or so miles on to Pendergrass, Georgia to get the plants.  I think she got all the lady had.  At a later date we met her and brought the plants home so we could root more. Now I had a nice home-rooted pot of Double File Viburnum which I gave to the daughter with deer problems.  Needless to say she also got some of the new rosemary plants from Pendergrass, too.  She set the rosemary beside the new Viburnum and both are still doing well.  No deer nibbles. But she put another plant beside a rose and the rose bush has had a few nibbles, but at least not destroyed.  The seller reminded us that not all rosemary is the same and tells a story of giving rosemary to her preacher.  She didn’t give him as much as he needed so he bought rosemary from the nursery – no plants near her rosemary were eaten, but all the plants near the bought rosemary were devoured. Now we’ve rooted a number of new plants, but the new ones do not have the repellent capabilities of the older plants.  This tells us we’ll have to keep the young plants in pots and let them mature before they can do the job they’re expected to do.

Needless to say, rosemary is used  a lot of ways in cooking and last week I read that brushed with egg white, it makes a colorful garnish for desserts.

About the rooting bed – John’s in charge of rooting.  He’s been accused of rooting broom handles, he’s good at it.  The rooting bed is on the north side of the house, which tells you it’s in full shade.  He uses plain cat litter or Oil Dry for the rooting medium, of course, it holds moisture well.  After he takes the cuttings to be rooted, he dips them in Gold Bond Foot Powder (instead of the expensive name varieties), makes a hole in the rooting medium with a screwdriver then in goes the cutting.   After that he keeps the bed watered and waits.   We recommend growing rosemary, both for beauty and use.

We enjoy rooting and sharing – this is country living