I would love a Rosemary that size in my garden!! Great info.

My "big to me" rosemary has been under 1 foot of snow all winter. I hope to cut off the top winter kill and fingers crossed that it makes it through our winter. Typically we do not have this much snow cover so it may have a chance.

Joanne ...

Rosemary is one of the few plants that I brush the snow off of after a storm. In my garden, I've found that it cannot survive snow cover for even a day ...it needs light. I've killed enough plants to have learned this lesson the hard way.

Smiles,
Lyn

Our low temps are way too cold for it to be fully exposed during the winter months. The branches are still very flexible, so I think it may survive. We will see

That's why I said "in my garden". There are so many variables, what happens here may not be a problem in another location.

Smiles,
Lyn

I've never had rosemary survive a winter . In fact, I've killed them in the house, too. But I do have a pot of parsley and one of basil inside under lights.

Karen

Thanks. I finally managed to successfully grow a beautiful (if lopsided) Rosemary plant out in the front garden simply by ignoring it. I forget to feed it, forget to water it except in extreme drought conditions and it is very happy.

wowza! that is an enviable rosemary shrub
Count me in on Zone Envy
I have a potted one, that comes in for the winter and lives in the kitchen window...

Mine would freeze for sure, if I brought it inside the house. Plants are actually safer in the ground.

Good grief, even my dish soap freezes. Can you imagine if I tried to keep a plant alive in the kitchen ? ...

Smiles,
Lyn

I started Rosemary cuttings last summer and one plant made it through the winter here in Alabama. Rarely do we have temperatures down to 0 degrees F, but that was enough to kill most (but not all) of the rosemary. Rosemary needs excellent drainage, not too much water (too much rain will kill it faster than low temperatures), lots of light, and no "hot" fertilizers.

I think in a pot on the porch is the best place for it, to keep it out of the rain and weather.

I have zone envy myself. That photo is from my house in Virginia, which I moved out of a couple months ago. I certainly won't get a rosemary like that in Michigan!

We were in zone 8 there, so we would get freezes, but never as low as 0F. You're right that drainage is key - I was able to keep it in the ground mostly because my soil was pure sand and didn't hold water at all.

Joanna, I'd be anxious to hear if your rosemary makes it. When I got mine, all the info I could find said they were only hardy to zone 9, yet lots of people in my city had them (and even bigger than mine!). I wonder what their real hardiness is I would get a bit of die-back if we had a hard freeze after it put on new spring growth, but otherwise it never seemed bothered by the winter weather.