How do I prepare rosemary for the winter?Live in zone 6 and grow herb in a pot. Want to bring in but plant too large.

Question

Can I prune it back and bring it inside for winter?Please help

Answer 1

Leave it outside.  Make sure it is watered regularly during the winter.  You can drape it with old-fashioned Xmas light and cover it with a bedsheet to protect it from a freeze.

Answer 2

Rosemary will not survive the cold weather.  If your area going down under 32 it won't make it...........Can you take some cutting and start some new plants by taking the rosemary off the bottoms and putting that into water and start new plants.  You also can get a bunch together and tie it with string and hang them up to dry in your home.  A lot of people would love them for gifts for birthday & holidays.  I live in 5a and zone 7, they did not survive the winter.  The only other thing that I could mention, maybe you could make a greenhouse around it with old storm windows.  Make a wood frame and just use screws to put it together.....or build up cement blocks and put a double glass or heavy plastic window on top of it.  Or can you use a handtruck to bring it inside.............do you have an enclosed porch?

Answer 3

I agree with Brigit the Irish Gal.  I planted rosemary in 2011 and it is still going strong.  In Zone 6, where I live in Southeastern PA, rosemary and several other herbs are perennials.  Not all of them, but rosemary, thyme, and sage are perennials in this Zone.  If the plant gets too large, either use it up in cooking, dry it and place in jars, use it for aromatherapy, add a sprig to a bouquet, or divide the plant and move it to another location.  You can create a rosemary hedge or a border for another part of the garden.  Rosemary is a repellant to rabbits and deers and to some insects.

Answer 4

Yes you can prune it back and take it inside...  Root the rest for new plants.