Rosemary has jumped from the herb garden to the front garden in Austin, Texas, becoming a reliable, attractive, and deer resistant landscaping plant.  There are many cultivars of rosemary offered to gardeners, one to fit any situation.  Rosemary needs to be planted in well-draining soil.    If the roots are soggy the plant will die.  It is often touted as a drought resistant plant and will survive a mild drought.   However, severe drought can be just as damaging as heavy rains.  The downpours of 2007 followed by long periods without rain proved challenging to the Horsetail Haven rosemary plantings.  Here is a summary of the rosemary cultivars Ann Marie has grown over the past decade.

Prostrate Rosemary (unnamed) - This plant grows in a large planter just east of a tall, but sparsely branched, cottonwood tree.  The rosemary is large and vigorous, an almost perpetual cloud of light blue flowers. The bees love it.   Somewhere, an apiarist must be enjoying sweet rosemary honey.

Upright Rosemary (unnamed) - This is the first rosemary plant Ann Marie every owned and is one of her favorites.  It has green leaves and very pale blue flowers.  The flavor is delightful.  It had been a large growing plant, providing branches to fill the bottom of a roasting pan each time a pork roast wass put in the oven.  (Ann Marie recommends Berkshire pork, from the Austin Farmers' Market.)  The plant basks in full afternoon sun.  It has survived many years despite being planted in clay soil.  However, during the heavy rains of the early summer much of the plant died.  It is reviving from one small branch and will soon once again fill that baking dish.

'Blue Lady' - This is a strictly ornamental rosemary;  The camphor taste makes it unsuitable for culinary use.  Three plants were originally placed on a north facing slope.  The growth habit is somewhere between prostrate and upright.  The dark blue blooms are frequent and highly attractive.  It has exhibited browning of the branch tips in cold weather.  Although planted in a location with well-draining soil and surviving for a decade, two of the plants died in 2007.  Perhaps the combination of heavy rains followed by extremely dry weather were the cause.  The one remaining plant is full of blooms for passersby to enjoy.

'Madalene Hill' - Named for one of the "grand dames" of Texas herbs, this plant has excellent flavor and a reputation for being more cold hardy than most rosemaries.  It is planted in a slightly shady spot in the garden, perhaps this is the reason it has mediocre growth.  It has not bloomed and frequently has branches that "just die".   Madalene Hill, the person, has been a mentor to Ann Marie, and would certainly advise growing this plant in a more appropriate growing location.

'Miss Jessops Upright' - According to The Big Book of Herbs by Tucker & DeBaggio this is a rosemary with a columnar form and medium blue-violet flowers.  The one at Horsetail Haven has lanky, wide growth and pale blue-violet flowers.  Tucker & DeBaggio state that the name is frequently misapplied so it seems possible that the one in Ann Marie’s garden was mislabeled when purchased.  It is a hardy plant growing in an area that receives little water.  The leaves are sparse when compared to other rosemary cultivars.

'Russian River' - Ann Marie loves the growth form of this cultivar.  It is a dense bush growing to about 2 ft tall and remains at that height with minimal pruning.  The flavor is good and it is a durable plant, growing in light shade with infrequent watering.  The one disappointment is that it has never bloomed.

'Severn Sea' - This is another plant that may be mislabeled.  According to Tucker & DeBaggio it should have an upright growth habit with medium blue-violet flowers.  The bloom color is accurate on the plant at Horsetail Haven but is has a sprawling, low growth form, almost a prostrate type.
 

Compost:
'Blue Boy'- This small plant with dense growth was planted in a raised bed and never became well  established.  Ann Marie has seen it growing in other gardens and would like to try it again in a container.

'Blue Spire' - This rosemary greeted visitors for a decade as they entered the yard from the street.  It was 4 ft tall with very straight stems and bloomed quite reliably.  It never had large masses of blossoms at one time, but the flowers were a lovely deep blue.  It died suddenly after the summer’s torrents.  Fortunately, cuttings had been taken in the spring.  This is definitely a "keeper" for the garden and will be replaced.

'Gorizia' - This plant grew for 5 years in the garden before dying.  It was not sited well, the soil did not drain and it was growing in too much shade.  It had a nice flavor but the leaves were coarse and tough, requiring more chopping than other equally tasty rosemaries.  It has not been replaced.

'Herb Cottage' - This grew weakly for 2 years before finally dying.  It was planted in a clay soil that did not drain well.

'Shimmering Stars' - This was a sprawling plant that Ann Marie had seen growing at Festival Hill in Round Top.  The source of the name became obvious when it bloomed.  Unfortunately, the plant at Horsetail Haven never became well established.  It may be tried again, it had been sited in a well-draining, raised bed but may have been in too much shade.

'Tuscan Blue' - This rosemary was started from a cutting taken from a neighbor.  It had beautiful deep blue flowers and bloomed reliably.  The neighbor’s plant died quickly and, several years later, so did the one at Horsetail Haven.  It has not been replaced but may be at some point.  Perhaps growing it in a container would be more appropriate.