rosemary herb

How to prune rosemary

Rosemary should be regularly pruned to prevent it from getting too big and woody. When cared for correctly, this edible ornamental will reward you handsomely with years of evergreen interest, fragrance and flavour. Here, horticultural expert Mandy Bradshaw explains how and when to prune your rosemary bush to keep it performing at its best.

Browse our full collection of rosemary shrubs to find the best variety for your garden.

Different types of rosemary

Rosemary 'Miss Jessop's Upright' from Thompson & Morgan

This upright variety can grow up to 2m tall
Image: Rosemary 'Miss Jessop's Upright' from Thompson & Morgan

Rosemary plants fall into three main categories:

  • Prostrate grow low to the ground, cascade over walls and make excellent ground cover. 
  • Upright can be clipped into hedges or grown against walls and fences. 
  • Arching forms are somewhere between the two. 

Pruning is used to restrict the size of the plants and to help them keep their shape, especially if they’re being used as a formal hedge. It’s also important for encouraging the production of new growth, which gives the best flavour in cooking. Leave a rosemary bush without pruning and in a few years you will have a bare, leggy bush with no fresh shoots.

When to prune a rosemary bush

Rosemary bush covered in flowers with a bee

Prune your rosemary bush once it has finished flowering
Image: alybaba/Shutterstock

The best time to prune rosemary is in late spring, just after it finishes flowering. This gives any subsequent new growth time to harden off before the winter frosts.

How to prune a rosemary bush

cutting back rosemary with shears

Take care not to prune your rosemary back too far
Image: KavardakovA/Shutterstock

Use sharp secateurs to deadhead the flowers, and then shorten any long stems using loppers, taking them back to a main stem or low set of leaves. The most important thing is to not cut back too far. Like its Mediterranean cousin lavender, rosemary does not regrow from old wood.

Let a rosemary bush have its head, and it’s extremely difficult to bring it back. Once a plant has got either too big or too leggy, it’s best to start again rather than trying to rejuvenate it. Either buy a new plant, or raise your own from cuttings.

Find more great herb growing advice and expert tips at our hub page.

Mandy Bradshaw, chatty gardener, gardening expert

Written by: Mandy Bradshaw, the Chatty Gardener

Cotswold-based Garden Media Guild member, Mandy Bradshaw, is also known as the Chatty Gardener. Passionate about gardening and writing, her beginnings are in football reporting for her primary school, and Mesembryanthemum planting with her mother. Winner of the 2018 Property Press Awards 'Garden Journalist of the Year', she writes for not only her own blog but also a range of newspapers, magazines and other gardening and non-gardening sites.

Banner image: Elena Efimova/ Shutterstock

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