# How big can you buy a rosemary plant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574 "2013-05-05T21:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/21 "2015-05-10T13:08:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [This page](https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/mvv1-00.htm) (which probably answers my questions – I’ll have to read it) shows similar, though less manicured, plants to my first link. They say [this plant](https://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/images/rosofficianlisuprighrosemarytinbloom.jpg) was started from a three-inch pot and is now five feet high and 20 feet wide. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Be that as it may, the pic I linked to today does show large rosemary plants. That’s what I’d like ours to look like. What do I need to do to get them to grow that big? (Preferably without having to wait 20 years.) Move to Squaw Valley, where that plant nursery is. Squaw Valley’s climate is rated at Csb, aka “Mediterranean Climate”. It’s where rosemary does _best_. You’re too cool and wet for the gigantic bushes of rosemary. It’s just not going to happen. The plants won’t live long enough in your climate to get that large. You’ll probably only get another year or two out of them before they die back. You’re asking a camel to thrive in the rain forest. It’s just not the right place for the creature to thrive. It will survive, a while, but it will never reach its full potential. Chin up, I can’t put them in the ground at all. Or I could, but that will turn it into an annual instead of a perennial, because the wet and cold here with kill them in a single season. I can get away with bringing a potted one outdoors in the summer, but it’s got to come inside for the later half of fall, winter and first half of spring. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/22 "2015-05-10T17:25:57Z")
Rosemary survives here in the UK, where it can get pretty cold and wet. The trick is to pick the right variety - some are much more tender than others - and provide good drainage; most tender plants will be more tolerant of cold if they are dry at the roots. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/23 "2015-05-10T21:34:19Z")
We have rosemary in our Worcestershire garden. It is mostly clay but with some compost to help out. Every year I tear a branch off and stick it in a small pot. Every couple of years I dig up the old woody bush and plant the new one. It is essential for roast lamb. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/24 "2015-05-12T03:33:37Z")
Rosemary grows to 4-5 feet in my Willamette Valley yard. Rain November-May most years. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/25 "2015-05-13T14:36:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Rosemary survives here in the UK, where it can get pretty cold and wet. The trick is to pick the right variety - some are much more tender than others - and provide good drainage; most tender plants will be more tolerant of cold if they are dry at the roots. I’m in the (southern) UK and we have a rosemary bush in our garden that’s 5ft tall and about 7-8ft wide. It started out as a small potted windowsill herb maybe 8 or 9 years ago. It grows pretty fast. (We also have a ceanothus like the one in the OP pic 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/26 "2015-05-13T15:16:20Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m in the (southern) UK and we have a rosemary bush in our garden that’s 5ft tall and about 7-8ft wide. It started out as a small potted windowsill herb maybe 8 or 9 years ago. It grows pretty fast. > > (We also have a ceanothus like the one in the OP pic 😉 ) You lucky so in sos can grow [gunnera.](http://members.shaw.ca/newgardener3/Weskwick%20gunnera%201%20SGE%20%28908%20x%20600%29.jpg) Perhaps the ocean warms things. I hate you. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/27 "2015-05-13T15:53:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Rosemary survives here in the UK, where it can get pretty cold and wet. The trick is to pick the right variety - some are much more tender than others - and provide good drainage; most tender plants will be more tolerant of cold if they are dry at the roots. This is a good point, and clarifies my earlier post. Rosemary has been bred into varietals ([prone growth](http://www.nzplantpics.com/pics_ground_cover/rosmarinus_officinalis_prostratus_02_groundcover.jpg) vs. bushes, dwarf vs. tall, emphasis on more blossoms, [variegated](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6a/22/f1/6a22f1f4828a127816b02a290cecda99.jpg)leaves, etc.) so I’d expect some variation in their respective tolerance for wet feet. Further - as with most plants - the drainage is key. The plant can tolerate significant amounts of rainfall IF the water immediately drains away from the soil. In other words, it’s not so much whether or not there’s a lot of incoming water – it’s about how quickly it’s moved away from the roots. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574/28 "2015-05-13T16:02:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Rosemary survives here in the UK, where it can get pretty cold and wet. The trick is to pick the right variety - some are much more tender than others - and provide good drainage; most tender plants will be more tolerant of cold if they are dry at the roots. > [@Colophon](#): > > I’m in the (southern) UK and we have a rosemary bush in our garden that’s 5ft tall and about 7-8ft wide. It started out as a small potted windowsill herb maybe 8 or 9 years ago. It grows pretty fast. > > (We also have a ceanothus like the one in the OP pic 😉 ) > [@bob\_2](#): > > We have rosemary in our Worcestershire garden. It is mostly clay but with some compost to help out. Every year I tear a branch off and stick it in a small pot. Every couple of years I dig up the old woody bush and plant the new one. It is essential for roast lamb. > [@susan](#): > > Rosemary grows to 4-5 feet in my Willamette Valley yard. Rain November-May most years. Of course variety and good drainage helps, but you’re still comparing apples to water logged oranges. [Southern UK annual rainfall](http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/regional-climates/so): > [@](#): > > The wettest areas are therefore the South Downs and the higher parts of Dorset, with an average of over 950 mm per year. In contrast, the Thames Valley, London and the north Kent coast normally receive less than 650 mm of rain per year. [Worchestershire](http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/gcq2vmx21): > [@](#): > > 606.4mm [Willamette Valley is considerably wetter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Valley#Climate): > [@](#): > > Precipitation varies considerably from place to place within the valley. Average annual totals range from less than 40 inches (1,000 mm) at low elevations to more than 80 inches (2,000 mm) in the foothills of the Cascade and Coast ranges. Eugene, at 425 feet (130 m) above sea level, receives 46 inches (1,200 mm) a year, while Portland, just 400 feet (120 m) lower, receives only 37 inches (940 mm). But it still can’t hold a candle to the [northwest of Washington state](http://cses.washington.edu/cig/pnwc/pnwc.shtml) (which is where I believe the OP is located): > [@](#): > > the western slopes of the Olympic and Coast mountain ranges - the first recipients of winter storms - typically receive about 118 inches (300 cm) per year, with some locations on the Olympic Peninsula exceeding 200 inches (500 cm) per year. Average annual precipitation in the Cascades typically exceeds 100 inches (250 cm) or more. The Cascades are often among the snowiest places on Earth (see sidebar). (Note that they get so much precipitation that they don’t even convert it to mm…they go right to _cm_.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-can-you-buy-a-rosemary-plant/657574.md?page=1)