Everything I've ever read about bringing rosemary plants indoors says that it doesn't do well inside. Has anyone here actually done it and been successful? I hate to have to pay for new plants every year - they're a whole lot pricier than annuals! But I love rosemary and wouldn't be without it.

Anyone have any tips to share for bringing it indoors? Thanks!

It can be done, but you have to work at it. I have successfully wintered over rosemary in clay pots, with about a half and half mix of cactus soil and potting soil, and setting under a combination flourescent/halogen shop lights that were on most of the time because I keep forgetting to turn them off. I have never kept one alive in a plastic pot, and I've never kept one alive in a window without additional bright lighting. Also, they seem to like getting cool, even cold during the winter, but they can't stay wet when they are cold.

I tried and failed! My rosemary dried up and died. Like you I hate paying for new annual plants every year, but am so in love with rosemary that I will. I had mine in regular sterile potting soil in a ceramic pot in front of a southern window and it died, as did the thyme and basil also. Maybe I'm just not meant to grow herbs indoors over the winter. On the otherhand, I bring in all of my other pots of spider plants, snake plant, geraniums, lantana, sweet potato vine, and ivies and they seem to like the window spot. Next year maybe I'll try setting up some more shop lights and trying to grow them under there instead. Jane

I've grown rosemary thru the winter indoors, but it was started inside on the window sill and never planted outside. It was healthy but Very slow growing.

I gave two plants from the same batch of seed to my mom. She grew them outside and brought them in. One died (I'm guessing it too was in a plastic pot) and the other survived the winter in a very bright south window.

One thing that amazes me about this plant is it's cold tolerance! Everything else outside around here is dead, but the rosemary still looks decent. Maybe I'll try bringing them indoors next year and putting them in a south window in an upstairs unheated bedroom. I am horrible with house plants, but (passing the buck here) I think part of the problem is hot, dry winter air. Summer conditions here (outdoors) are usually humid and I think that the house air is just too dry for them. If I were a better plant caretaker I'd mist them everyday, but I'm best at growing outdoor plants - that way Mother Nature has a bigger hand in what happens than I do! Thanks for the ideas and advice!!!

Years ago I tried growing rosemary indoors, to no avail. It always ended up drying up, which was what I had read to let it do, then I decided to keep it wet, which worked until it became rootbound. This would happen even in a pot twice the size of the top, so I would water them until soaked, and two days later they were wilted. I finally gave up this approach.

Now I have three rosemary plants outside, the oldest about 6 years old, and about 3-4 ft. in diameter. One is a variety that resists -15: temps, but the biggest is a normal one, which I don't do anything special with unless the temp. goes down in the low teens. (this week it went down to 3 I then throw a tarp over it and put a lamp with a 60 watt bulb inside the tarp. This keeps it just warm enough so I haven't lost it. Another normal type I have is about 4 years old, and I have done nothing to baby it, and it is still going strong. (Do you think I like rosemary?)

I have a rosemary plant that is about 10 years old.
It is indoors for the winter in a pottery pot ,very cool room. I have been misting it this winter because it looked 'on the edge' of not making it.(I also fed it dilute fish and kelp liquid in september) Now it is blooming(first time) and a huge delight. It stays potted year round. In spring I will root prune and add fresh potting soil.
You are right,they can take it pretty cool outdoors,don't like it hot and dry indoors. They enjoy a big adjustment period from outdoors to in. Some people keep them in an unheated ,closed porch in the warmer zones.

Pepperhead,What planting zone are you in?
Not that -15F for a rosemary would help me because it gets colder than that here.
Haven't come across a rosemary hardy to -15F.
Know where you got it and its Latin Name?

Pepperhead and Franeli,
I'm envious of your long-lived rosemary!! I've never seen a rosemary plant bloom - they haven't lived long enough! I think this year I will put a few in the ground and one in a pottery pot like Franeli and bring it indoors to see what happens. I guess I could get my mister out again and see what kind of luck I have! If any plant would be worth the trouble, it would be rosemary. Their scent is wonderful.

Thanks all!

Hey Buff, leave it outside and mulch real good. I know you are in weather colder than mine but we leave them out all the time. It does get down in the teens some here. This year has had some real cold spells.

Rosemary is a bush, very woody stems, gets quite large. There would be no way to take it indoors every year.

So just leave it out and mulch real good.

Feather

I'm in Zone 5 and a neighbor suggested overwintering Rosemary like a rose bush - insulated with dead leaves. I'll let you know in spring how it did.

(Minneapolis - it's almost 20 degrees right now but it will be below zero at least one night this week)

My friend in Milwaukee has a rosemary bush that's about 10 years old, but they have a nice warm little lake effect there.

I'm in zone 5, too, (or maybe zone 6...the new USDA map seems to suggest zone 6 for me) and have a rosemary plant that I've brought indoors. It was never planted in the ground, though, always stayed in a pot because I knew I would bring it in for the winter. It's still alive, but it doesn't look fantastic. Some new growth has come out, but it is spindly and pale. I have it planted in one of those plastic pots with a self watering reservoir. I give a big drink whenever the soil is dry.

I think next year I may try to plant it outside and leave it for the winter. I would mulch it heavily and perhaps even surround it with some plastic milk jugs mostly full of water. Wouldn't that work kind of like a wall-o-water to capture heat and insulate it?

Linda

Over winterwintering Rosemary is really easy. put it in a cold room (I heat with wood and have several rooms that do not get above 50˚F) or in an enclosed porch or garage and leave it alone for the winter. you might want to water it once between November and March but other than that ignore the plant and it will be fine.

It will do even better in an unheated hoophouse or cold frame.

If you give it extra light, heat and water it will die fer sure.

I have 6 or 7 big plants in pots in my hoophouse and they are doing great, some are flowering, even

I've killed more plants than I care to admit but the key for me is the variety. I had all but given up when I mentioned my problem to a Master Gardener friend and she gave me a cutting of her plant that has done very well for her. That was three years ago and it is going strong. It is in very bright light in a warm room. Every now and then, I let it dry out completely (wilt at the tops of the branches) and then refresh it again. I couldn't be forgetting to water it, could I?! Ask some of your local gardening friends and maybe they will have a plant that has done well in your area for them.

I'm in Zone 4. I dug up some rosemary in Sept.,repotted it in some new potting soil in a plastic pot and brought it indoors. It's under shop lights which are on for 14 hours a day in the house with an avg. temp of 65F. The plant looks fine, continues to grow and I've harvested alot. The new 'indoors' growth is not as woody as it is when it grows outdoors. I've had to use organic insecticidle soap once to get rid of some mites. Easy.