Re: Rosemary

At 12:09 PM 11/21/99 +0000, E.Pizzi@agora.stm.it wrote:
>What kind of Rosemary are you planting in your Medit-garden this
>
>year...where, and why?
>
>Helene Pizzi
>Lecturer and Garden Writer
>Rome, Italy

Hi Helene -

I have a few rosemaries in my garden - not newly planted:

One of my favorites is Romarinus officinalis 'Albus', the
white flowered rosemary.  Its flowers are truly white, and show
up well against the dark green, needle-like leaves which arch
back from the stem creating a 'shaggy' appearance in contrast to
other forms.  I'm not sure on the final size as this one is
planted in a rather tight spot (ALL spots are tight in my tiny
garden!).  This form is effectively planted with Salvia discolor,
the Black Salvia (dark purple-black flowers), which has leaves
edged and backed in a fine white felt.  The salvia is notoriously
a gawky grower no matter what you do to train it, so it benefits
from growing through or flopping over the rosemary.  I have some
white variegated grasses and pale grey-white succulents at the
feet of these two.  Previously, I had Lepechina fragrans, a native
pitcher sage, planted in this group as well.  Its soft-hairy,
fragrant foliage combined well, and the soft lavender flower with
white throats (like curious foxgloxes) made a nice combination.

R. off. 'Joyce deBaggio' is close by, with bright golden-chartreuse
foliage in spring this fades to yellow-green in summer.  Its rich
blue flowers are an intense contrast to the bright foliage.  This
one is combined with Euphorbia rigida, whose grey-green, sculptural,
snake-like stems tend to 'dance' in the direction of the available
sunlight, while 'Joyce' dances in the opposite direction (reclining
away from the sun) - an interesting counterpose!  This form of
rosemary is intensely fragrant!  One a warm day, there is leterally
a cloud of scent hanging around that corner!  If you like the
fragrance, this is a good plant!  Not sure about its culinary use -
we are not big fans of this herb in the kitchen (likely stemming
from my father's overuse of it when I was a child!).  If you look
closely at the leaves, you'll see a dark green central strip down
the center of each.  This is less noticeable in summer when the
color fades (less of a contrast).

Another Rosemary of which I am fond but which I recently had to
remove from the garden is what we call 'Majorca Pink'.  Its tiny
needle clasp the stems closely.  The flowers are a distinct pinkish-
lavender.  The stems tend to grow long and 'swoopy', falling this
way and that over its neighbors and the surrounding bed.  It would
be great falling over/off the top of a wall.  It is a really
interesting plant - I need to find another good place for it.

A new plant for me is a cultivar called 'Jen's Blush'.  It has sort
of olive green needles, which are short and seems to stick out in
various directions, creating a unique foliage texture.  The flowers
are supposed to be pale with lots of wine-purple blotches - a
curious sounding effect, one which I can't wait to see for the first
time this spring.  I was planning on planting this one but may hold
it in a container so that we could use it in the MGS display at the
garden show in spring.

The planned site for the above plant it a bed at my son's school
where I plan to install various forms of rosemary.  I think it
would be interesting to see the various foliage colors and textures
side by side.  Maybe some of them will cross with each other and a
few chance hybrids might form!  It is fascinating how diverse one
rosemary can be from another - I'm sure there are hundreds of forms
around the Mediterranean Basin, and on the various islands!

(BTW - if someone in the Bay Area has a fine, large plant in a container
that we could borrow in mid-March, 2000, please let me know.  We're
looking for plants for a display and while nursery stock will be
available from some growers with whom we are talking, a larger plant
or two would add variety.  If there are other interesting, mediterranean
climate appropriate plants folks have in pots, I'd love to talk about
these as well.  Thanks.)

Helene - what is your question abotu Rosemaries about?  Are you
researching a talk?  article?  or?

Regards,
Sean O.

Sean A. O'Hara                       sean.ohara@groupmail.com
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s          710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose'     Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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