Growing rosemary indoors will allow you to keep this herb all winter, so find out how to overwinter rosemary!
How to Keep Rosemary Alive During the Winter
Find out how to overwinter rosemary and grow rosemary indoors to keep this wonderful herb growing all year!
A reader’s question about overwintering rosemary reminded me that it was something I wanted to write about. I have had mixed results with rosemary plants over the years, but after killing a few, I think I have finally gotten it right.
Every fall, at least one person heading south for the winter will come to me with plants that they can’t bear to let die. I am a sucker for a beautiful plant, so if I have the room, I usually say yes. I have gotten some remarkable plants that way—jasmine, streptocarpella, orchids, geraniums, begonias, and rosemary.
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How to Overwinter Rosemary
The rosemary I have now is several years old. Last year, it spent the winter on a cold windowsill at the library. The heat was on the fritz there last winter, but this plant sailed through the 50ÂşF nights with no problem. Occasionally, I would wrestle it into the sink and spray water over the needles, but it usually just got watered when we noticed the lanky new growth drooping. I brought it home, and it spent the summer outdoors, enjoying the bright sunshine, heat, and rainfall. Now, it is back inside for the winter.
The three most important things to consider when overwintering your rosemary are light, temperature, and water.
Temperature
In the past, I have had success wintering rosemary in a south-facing window in an unheated upstairs bedroom. Now, we are lucky enough to have a greenhouse attached to the house. We keep it fairly cold; the heat only comes on out there if it drops below 40ÂşF, and sometimes plants too near the glass freeze at night. And yet, the rosemary is thriving.
Watering
It can get a messy sprinkle of water on its needles weekly, along with regular watering when the soil feels dry. Rosemary hates wet feet, so do not let yours sit in water. It needs well-drained soil, and a clay pot can help keep the roots from rotting. Many people make the mistake of letting their rosemary dry out too much, but a dry rosemary is a dead rosemary. Water when the soil feels dry.
Light
That brings us to light. Rosemary needs the brightest light you have. I have had the best luck with south-facing windows, but many people resort to supplementing with grow lights. If you don’t have access to a nice south-facing window, a western or eastern one will do. North-facing windows won’t get enough sunlight, but if it’s all you have, it’s better than nothing!
Frequent clipping keeps it from getting too leggy, and when new growth starts this spring, it will make for a bushier plant.
Growing Rosemary Indoors
The best part about keeping rosemary in the house is that you can stroke it every time you walk by and release that lovely fragrance into the air. Smelling it supposedly enhances cognitive function—clearly, I’m not smelling enough of it! Rosemary can even reduce anxiety and stress and repel bugs.
Cooking with it is a treat also. Fresh rosemary goes well with potatoes, chicken, vegetable soup, and we stuffed our Thanksgiving turkey with it. Plus, if your indoor rosemary doesn’t make it and dries up—free dried rosemary! Try delicious recipes like Corn Bread with Rosemary and Pine Nuts and Rosemary Chicken with Spinach.
Rosemary is said to symbolize “remembrance,” and Rosemarie, the woman who gave me this plant, is in my thoughts often.
Want more growing tips? Check out our Rosemary plant care page! Plus, get more tips for growing plants indoors and getting your garden ready for winter.
Are you overwintering your rosemary this season? Let us know below!
Robin Sweetser
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I have 6 small plants grown from cuttings earlier this year They're growing in 1 gallon pots in a hoop house I built from scrap.They're very vulnerable the 1st yr so I sunk the pots in 3 gallon buckets and filled the buckets with sand .As an extra measure of protection I placed the buckets inside milk crates and crammed straw all around the buckets .
(I insulated the crates too)As a last resort I can put cloches over the plants and lay frost blankets and mylar sheets over them.Even though heat Automatically turns on at 35 degrees I don't know if it'll heat the green house fast enough to prevent them from freezing.If this isn't enough protection to help them to survive the winter here I'll probably never try to grow Rosemary again here.
I live in the western mountains of central Virginia and i always have rosemary plants in the garden and flower beds. I have lost many to winter over the years. I finally think I have figured out how to keep them from dying. The plants always make it until after Christmas but when the temperatures drop into the teens and lower and the dry Winter wind howls the plants just dehydrate and dry up and die. For the last half dozen years I have been putting a 55 gallon plastic drum with no bottom (makes a wonderful planter if you cut it off about a foot from the bottom) and cut about a 12-inch hole in the other end and put the barrel over the whole plant thus protecting it from the wind. If there hasn't been any falling weather in a week or two I will take a watering can and water it occasionally. The temperatures here in the mountains can drop below zero during the night and not get above 20 F during the day. When the temp gets into the twenties or above during a sunny day I will take the barrels off the plants so they can get some sun. I usually don't keep them covered more than two months. I think that protecting them from dry cold wind is the key to keeping them alive during Winter. I still clip branches for kitchen use during this time.
I have had my rosemary planted outside here in South Carolina (Zone 8) for over 10 years now. It has grown into a large shrub and continues to provide us with both new growth and beautiful blooms every year with very little care. I use straight cuttings for BBQ skewers after removing the leaves. They give the kabobs great natural seasoning!
I've had good luck with rooting cuttings in water, taken in the fall here in SW PA. Once rooted in late winter, I pot them up and done! I've transplanted these starters in the garden (where they don't overwinter), in a pot on the porch, SE exposure, and I kept one small pot in the kitchen window above the sink, eastern exposure, for an entire year! I just repotted it and am crossing my fingers. The closer to the kitchen, the more they get pruned -- and they seem to love that. Me too!
Here in Cincinnati, Ohio, I had a Rosemary plant in the ground for 3 or 4 years. It was planted 6 or 8 inches from south foundation wall. Grew to 2 foot diameter in size, with trunk thumb sized. Weather goes Below 0 at times.
Here in Cincinnati, Ohio, I had a Rosemary plant in the ground for 3 or 4 years. It was planted 6 or 8 inches from south foundation wall. Grew to 2 foot diameter in size, with trunk thumb sized. Weather goes Below 0 at times.
Here in SC, I have neighbors that keep Rosemary as bushes lining their house and lawns. I haven't yet been able to figure out how they achieved this. The only advise I was given from them was not to let the water from the roof beat the plants.
Rosemary reminds me of lavender. Any tips on over-wintering lavender plants. I have a few small ones that can easily be brought indoors. Would you handle the indoor ones similarly to the rosemary? I also have several large ones in pots which I was considering putting in the ground and mulching after frost. I’d hate to lose them. What do you think?
Thank you for this wonderful article !! I can’t keep Rosemary or Sage alive for the life of me :( !!! I do everything you described and they STILL die !! Perhaps I have let them dry out and watered too late and that may be what causes them to die bc you said “ A dry Rosemary is a dead Rosemary !!
I am in zone 8 and mine survives in the garden year after year. Lucky me right?
