How do I care for a small rosemary plant?

Factual Questions
1

Six weeks ago, a friend just gave me a 10-inch tall rosemary plant (shaped like a Christmas tree) and, after reading the care instructions, I’m confused.

The directions seem to be saying that the plant cannot be kept indoors, but shouldn’t be placed outside in freezing temperatures.

I’ve never had much luck getting rosemary to thrive. Despite watering and placing the plant near a window indoors, it’s starting to lose some needles on the bottom of the “tree.”

I want to preserve this precious gift. Please help.

2

I’m not sure where you live, so I don’t know how severe the winters are there.

Rosemary is a mediterranean seaside plant; it likes full sun and free-draining soil - it is unlikely to survive indoors. It can stand a fair bit of frost and snow, but if the winter temperature drops below -15C for prolonged periods in your locality, then it will at least be cut back a little by the cold and may be killed.

You can’t just take it from indoors and plant it outside - the shock would kill it, what you can do is to ‘harden it off’ (although this is not really the time of year to be doing that) - put it in a cooler place(like an unheated porch or a sheltered balcony) during the day and move it back into the warmth during the night, repeat this for a week or two and the plant will be better able to cope with the cold.

You’re also probably overwatering it.

3

Our rosemary shrub is doing very well, and provides more than enough fresh rosemary for the kitchen.

A few ideas:

  1. Don’t overwater. Most potted plants come in straight potting soil w/ very little perlite, so overwatering can kill. Rosemary is very drought tolerant, being a native of the Mediterranean maquis. Let the soil dry out between waterings. Roots need to breathe, too.

  2. Full sun is vital. Our rosemary is in a south window, and does very well. Figure out which window is sunniest, and keep it there (prolly the south window unless you have a tall building or evergreen tree to the south of your home).

  3. If it still looks bad in 2 weeks, repot with a mixture of 2/3 potting soil and 1/3 perlite.

  4. Don’t fertilize or put it outside until spring.

Good luck!