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Showing posts with label Shrubs. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Growing The Beautiful And Useful Evergreen Rosemary Shrub Reviewed

One of the most useful and lovely plants in our garden is the Rosemary. All year it delicately perfumes the garden with its gorgeous aromatic scent as you brush against it. Rosemary is a Mediterranean plant with fine needle-like but very soft leaves that emit a beautiful aromatic scent when handled or brushed against.

In summer it is glorious with its pretty flowers, delicate leaves and lovely aroma and even in the depths of winter I can stroke the leaves and smell the delicate scent on my hands.

Being evergreen it provides structure and something lovely to look at when nothing is flowering and many shrubs have lost their leaves.

Beautiful Aromatic Rosemary In Flower. Photo By Raintree Annie

Ways To Grow Rosemary

We grow it as a decorative shrub on its own as a single plant where we enjoy its beautiful scent and its pretty tiny bluish flowers.
It is also grown as a low hedge with several plants spaced about a foot apart growing into each other to provide a loose hedge that can be clipped to the desired height and width.
We keep young plants in pots near the house for clipping new shoots for cooking and baking.
It is always a lovely idea to grow Rosemary where you will be walking close by. So by a path or a seating area where you get the benefit of the aromatic scent every time you or your visitors pass.
It is evergreen and takes very little looking after. It is easy to propagate and simple to grow. We grow it in the garden in the ground and we also have it in pots.
Rosemary has its individual needs and likes just as any plant but I feel it is a very straightforward herb that most people can grow in their gardens, patios, or even when young, on a window sill.
Whether you have a large garden or a small garden, whether you incorporated it into your garden with other shrubs and flowers, or grow it in a herb garden as in the photo below, it is a very versatile and lovely plant.

Herb Garden Barnsdale Garden Geoff Hamilton. Photo By Raintree Annie

Care Of Rosemary

We should plant rosemary in the Spring or Autumn/Fall. I always do it in Spring in my clay soil garden so they get a chance to establish themselves before the winter hardships start. If you have more suitable soil you could do it in either season.
Add some bark compost or leafmould or simply fine gravel or grit to the planting hole in order to break up the soil structure and improve the drainage if you need to.
Each year we should give Rosemary a gentle prune once she has finished flowering to prevent her from becoming woody or spindly. Watch for any damaged or dying branches as well and prune those out.
Pruning Rosemary is one of my favourite jobs in the garden as it is so fragrant and easy to do. Apart from those few jobs, there is nothing much else to do regarding regular maintenance.
The only pest that bothers Rosemary is the Rosemary beetle. The small metallic-green and purple-striped beetles can be found on the underside of the leaves. I am lucky that we have never been troubled by it, but it is becoming more common. The beetle itself was once thought to be a severe problem to Rosemary, but it has since been found that it usually doesn't cause too much damage.

Rosemary Flowers Photo By Raintree Annie

Soil And Water Conditions For Rosemary

Being from the Meditterean, Rosemary loves to bask in the sunshine, so a sunny spot is a must for this plant. It likes free draining soil and a sheltered place in the garden.
Having said that I currently have three very healthy Rosemary plants growing in full sun and a sheltered position, but in heavy clay soil, which is far from ideal. I do worry about them each year in winter when the soil becomes a claggy, heavy, cold and wet place to be, but so far they have coped admirably with this. They have managed because I grew them in pots for a couple of years before I planted them in the garden. So they were bigger stronger plants when they had to cope with the less than ideal circumstances.
I do however take cuttings every year and have some Rosemary growing in pots of well-drained soil in case I lose the bigger plants.
If you have anything but well-drained soil I would recommend you take cuttings every year. I do not think Rosemary will live as long in heavy clay as it would in ideal well drained soil but they are healthy. If I was starting the garden again I would grow Rosemary in a raised bed so that I could give it ideal conditions.
In terms of watering, I never water the shrubs in the ground. Even in last summers heatwave Rosemary was perfectly happy. I do water the rosemary in pots and the cuttings when they become dry.

Last Years Rosemary Cuttings Photo by Raintree Annie

Propagation Of Rosemary Cuttings

I take cuttings every year from the Rosemary bushes I have and so always have an abundance to keep or give away.

Taking cuttings is very easy. I have never grown Rosemary from seeds and understand that can take a very long time. So it is best to buy your first Rosemary, then take cuttings to make more.

Before you prune the rosemary for cuttings have everything you need handy. Cuttings can dry out very quickly and if they do they will not grow, so act quickly,

You require gritty compost, pots preferably terracotta but plastic will do, hormone rooting powder if you can get it, a pencil, a watering can full of water, a sharp knife and secateurs.
Cut stems of about 4 to 6 inches long using your secateurs and gently remove the lower leaves. Lay the cutting down on a hard surface and using a sharp knife cut just below a leaf node (the point where the leaf has been growing.)
If you have hormone rooting power dip the ends of the cutting into it. I often do not have it so skip this step.
Place the stems into pots already filled with free draining gritty compost. You may need to make a small hole with a pencil first depending on how dense the compost is.
It is best to place the cuttings around the edge of the pot so they are not touching each other.
Then simply water well and place it where it is sheltered and shaded, not in direct sunlight, until they have rooted.
After about 4 weeks check to see how they are rooting. If they are rooting well you can at this point pot them on into their individual pots using a loam based compost.
If not give them another few weeks. Keep watering well so that the soil is moist but not waterlogged. Once they are in their own individual pots we start them on a feed of liquid fertiliser.

Rosemary Spring Photo By Raintree Annie

Rosemary Uses In Cooking And Baking

I like to incorporate Rosemary into cooking and baking wherever possible and as I grow it we have an unlimited and fresh, organic, pesticide-free supply year round.

It can be used for so many dishes including potatoes, meat and baking. Also in soups and stews, bread, stuffing and roasted vegetables. We love the extra flavour and aromatic scent.

I always prefer to strip the leaves off the main more woody stem and wash in clear, cold water before using.

For ideas on how to use Rosemary in cooking/baking please take a look at the links below.

Reviewing Baking Irish Soda Bread With A Twist by Raintree Annie

Grilled Rosemary Ranch Chicken by Sam Monaco

If you do not have your own Rosemary shrub yet and want to use it in cooking you can try a product like this Organic Rosemary Leaf.

Rosemary Benefits To Wildlife.

Bees love Rosemary! This plant has tiny blue flowers that appear irresistible to bees. All summer they are so busy flying from flower to flower and so intent on their work that it is completely fascinating to watch. It is mesmerising watching bees and I would, if I had the time, watch them for hours, but even a few minutes is such a relaxing pastime.

Personally, I find the scent of Rosemary very soothing and relaxing. I love those little bags of Rosemary leaves to put under my pillow and in my clothes draws to give them a lovely scent.

We give Rosemary in terracotta pots as gifts dressed up with a bow or other trimmings. It makes a simple and quite lovely little gift that the person can keep for a long time.

We cut stems of rosemary and bring them into the house to put in vases like we would fresh flowers. I also buy Rosemary oil to help naturally scent our home.

I enjoy growing Rosemary and would not want to be without it in my garden. For such a lovely, easygoing, low-maintenance plant it has great beauty and benefits.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

A Review Of The Elaeagnus Shrub In The Garden.

Lets me introduce you to Elaeagnus. This is a shrub I would not be without in my garden, yet is not a garden plant that many of us would seek out. She is a very unassuming shrub but if we look closer really rather beautiful and very practical and valuable in the garden.

Many of us want gorgeous colourful flowers and impressive trees, maybe even exquisite alpines. They are so beautiful and often colourful, we would always want them in a garden.

However, it is easy to overlook the real workhorses of the garden, the plants that provide us long lasting green background, cover for birds and green in the depths of winter and a foil for all the other showy beauties.

Such is the Elaeagnus shrub. She is a bold, beautiful, hardy, vigorous and easy to care for plant in the garden.

We have an evergreen variety and I love the leaves which are thick and resilient dark green and an unexpected and striking silver underneath. This is particularly evident on a windy day when you can see the shrub waving in the wind and flashes of bright silver even on a dull day.

I was very impressed with Elaeagnus in the drought we had last summer, 40 degree heat and fierce sunshine. She was one of the few plants whose leaves did not scorch and she survived with no watering at all. She even grew a good 3 foot this summer!

I love that this shrub can be evergreen if you choose the right variety and if you choose a dark evergreen that other more showy flowers and roses look just beautiful against.

She also provides shelter for other plants from the intense sun and the wind. As she can grow quite dense she also provided shelter from snow and cold this winter.

All this is great in the garden but the real surprise comes when tiny white flowers, easy to miss appear on the leaves.

Before you even see the flowers you start to notice a beautiful scent in the air which smells to me like honey and sweet perfume and if you move closer and take in the scent of these flowers it is gorgeous.

There are many varieties of Elaeagnus with slightly different needs, some evergreen, some deciduous, some one green colour, others variagated. Most have small insignificant flowers that have a gorgeous scent that can fill a small garden beautifully.

Foliage colours also vary from dark green with silver or white undersides or silvery foliage, or golden with green. Pollinators seem to like these little flowers as well.

Many are large shrubs but there are also dwarf varieties for a smaller garden or a container garden.

Once it becomes a more dense shrub the birds like to hide and seek shelter in it. I am hoping that now our shrubs are larger, birds will nest in it.

Care Of Elaeagnus

This is an easy-care vigorous and strong shrub with thick leaves. Most of the care is in the early years to keep it well watered.

After that apart from pruning to the desired height and width it can take care of itself. An application of mulch each spring will be beneficial though I have to say I have not always done this and the shrub is doing very well.

Ideally, plant a young shrub in autumn into the soil. However especially if you have a compact variety you can also plant it into a large container in free draining soil.

Where To Plant

Many Elaeagnus shrubs ideally like to grow in full sun though I have one in part shade and she is perfectly happy. Check the varieties for what they most enjoy.

They can grow in a variety of soil types though they do prefer well drained soil. However, our soil is heavy clay and our plants are growing very well.

It copes with most weather from drought to cold very well and for me is a real workhorse of the garden and a plant I do not need to worry about.

Pruning

Elaeagnus is a strong very vigorous shrub and grows rapidly. Although it does not need any pruning to be healthy, in a small or average size garden I would advise pruning at least once a year then it is easily done with good quality secateurs.

However, if you leave it too long or let it get too big, it will be a bigger and more arduous task needing more heavy duty tools.

With regular pruning, I find this shrub very easy to prune with secateurs after flowering as long as you do it from being a young plant. I never let it get so big that I need shears or a saw to prune it.

It is very vigorous but I find it easy to keep to the height I want and in our conditions, which are less than perfect for this plant, it stays under control as much as any of our other shrubs.

Propagation.

Once you have one shrub you can easily make more. I find that cuttings are very easy to take and grow on well.

We just take 5cm semi ripe cuttings in the summer. These are stems that are soft at the tip and woodier at the base, growth that is from this year's current growth.

As with most cuttings simply remove the lower leaves, leave a couple at the top then inset the cutting gently into a pot of well drained compost.

You can ideally cover loosely with a polythene bag so that the levels of humidity remain high, but I have found they take very well even without it.

Keep the soil moist and pot onto individual pots once they make roots.

A Vigorous Shrub

Please note, this is a very vigorous shrub; in some conditions and countries, it can become invasive. I have found this to be fine in our garden and love having this shrub, but do check locally to see if it may be an issue for your garden. In some countries where conditions are different and more perfect and for some varieties, it is known as an invasive shrub. So if you are interested do check for your local conditions and seek advice as you do not want to plant an invasive shrub in your garden.

If you are concerned that this shrub might be too vigorous or invasive in your garden growing a compact variety in a sturdy pot might be a good compromise and that will inhibit its growth as well.

How To Use Elaeagnus In The Garden

Grow as a very effective screening hedge or train as an elegant single plant as a standard. This is especially good if you choose an evergreen variety.
Ideally, this is a shrub to plant in the soil but if that is not an option for you try growing it in a smaller pot first and graduating up to the largest pot you can find in good free draining soil.
Alternatively, simply buy a compact variety of this shrub which can then be grown and live its life in a container.
If you do want to grow it as a hedge allow the leaves to grow right from the base of the shrub to provide cover and density. Evergreen varieties are best for a hedge.
However, if you think the shrub will be too vigorous or invasive, grow it in such a way that you prune all the lower leaves away to expose the stem to make it more of a standard plant. In this way, you can control it better and even grow it in a large pot as a specimen shrub.
We grow ours in two ways one plant is grown as a hedge to screen off an area of the garden and the garage and the other is more of a standard plant next to a holly tree.
It is also a great shrub to grow near the bins to screen them off and provides a lovely scent when it flowers, It is good to grow near an area where you might sit in the autumn/fall so you can enjoy the scent when it flowers.
Grow other colourful plants, climbers, perennials or annuals in front of it so that it provides an effective foil for them.
If you enjoy flowers in your home the strong cut stems of Elaeagnus are lovely to use when doing flower arranging and are long lasting for your foliage arrangement and in a mixed flower and foliage display.

So while we enjoy and bask in the beauty and colour of the gorgeous flowers and bulbs, we spare a thought and a place in our gardens for the evergreen workhorses of the garden. These shrubs give us foliage all winter, cover for wildlife, screening and privacy for us and a perfect foil for all the pretty climbers, roses, flowers and joyful colours.

Essential Wildlife Gardening Gifts

Raintree Earth Designs

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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