When to plant rosemary?
- Botanical name
- Salvia rosmarinus
- Family
- Lamiaceae
Rosemary is planted from April to May. It is harvested all year. It is cut back from May to June.
Rosemary is a woody perennial. The edible parts are the leaves and flowers.
Rosemary takes only a light frost, and a cold winter is too much for it. It comes through most reliably in a pot brought indoors before the first frost. In a bed the outcome is uncertain, even with the plant wrapped.
Rosemary goes in once the soil is warm, and still early enough to root before the dry summer. Cold, wet ground is more dangerous to it than drought. Light, free draining soil suits it, and in clay it does not thrive.
Rosemary is not cut into old wood, because bare branches send out no new shoots. It is cut lightly once it has flowered. An old bush goes bare at the base and no cut mends that, so in time it is replaced with a new plant.
Rosemary through the year
- planting
- harvest
- cutting back
In short
The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.
Growing conditions
Is rosemary toxic to cats and dogs?
No. Rosemary is not toxic to cats and dogs.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- Over the upper side of the leaves there is a coarse pale speckling, and on the underside small animals that jump away quickly. By the end of summer the leaf can be heavily mottled, while the growth of the plant is hardly affected. The affected herbs are perfectly safe to eat.
- Prevention
- It overwinters as an egg on the plant itself and is active from May into autumn, so cleared old wood and foliage at the end of the season helps. Encourage birds, ladybirds, parasitic wasps and ground beetles.
- What to do
- No spray is needed: the pest does not affect the growth or the vigour of the plant, so the right answer is to put up with it. If the look bothers you, cut back the most mottled shoots, because the new growth comes clean.
- Signs
- The leaves are eaten and left as short stubs with a grey brown edge where the tissue has dried. The metallic green and purple beetles are on the plant all year round.
- Prevention
- Action is usually not needed, because a healthy plant takes the beetle. Encourage birds and ground beetles.
- What to do
- Pick them off by hand or shake the branches over a sheet of paper laid underneath, easiest in the morning, when the beetles are slow.
Keep track of your plants with Tendask
Log the task and set a reminder for the next one. Every plant keeps its own history, so there is nothing to guess at.
Related plants
The plants below are in the same botanical family (Lamiaceae).
Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Penn State Extension, Royal Horticultural Society, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 17 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: EPPO Global Database.