Rosemary Companions

Using Rosemary as a Companion Plant

(tips on growing rosemarys in your garden)

Rosemary is a wonderful aromatic and culinary herb that has a quite distinctive flavor. When growing your own rosemary, you might want to consider companion planting and which other herbs, vegetables and flowers you plant nearby. This article is in itself a companion for our guide for companion planting with herbs. Our Herb Garden has done the research for you and put together the opinions of a variety of gardening experts in this rosemary companion planting guide.

As more and more gardeners are growing rosemary, they are becoming more interesting in learning more uses for their plants. By companion planting, you can use your rosemary plants to help other plants in your garden as well as attract beneficial insects.

Rosemary Companion Planting

When considering rosemary companion planting, the best companion plant is broccoli as both plants benefit from being planted together. Planting rosemary nearby will also help your beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and hot peppers to flourish. The only herb we found that would benefit from rosemary companion planting was sage.

Planting carrots, potatoes and pumpkins near rosemary is not advised as they make for poor companions. Rosemary generally likes a more dry soil and does not do well with plants requiring more water like tomatoes and basil.

A visitor to Our Herb Garden warned us about planting mint around rosemary. Apparently, the roots of the mint invaded those of the rosemary and killed off a well-established plant. Thank you Ann for that cautionary tale!

Rosemary & Carrots.

We found a difference of opinion when it came to rosemary companion planting with carrots. A number of sources said they make poor companions. However, one source recommended using them together. They said to place rosemary cuttings by the crowns of the carrots to repel carrot flies. Personally, I wouldn’t define that as companion planting. Perhaps the best option is to plant the two as if they were bad companions and use rosemary cuttings for carrot fly control.

Rosemary & Insect Control.

Rosemary is believed to repel harmful insects including bean beetle, cabbage fly, cabbage moth and carrot fly.

Additional Rosemary Information

(Rosemarinus officinalis, Linn.)

To learn more about growing rosemary be sure to check out our rosemary fact sheet. And, when you are ready to harvest your rosemary leaves, be sure to check out our guide on drying rosemary.

Our history of rosemary page discusses both historical and modern uses for rosemary.

Rosemary Buying Guide

 

Living Rosemary Plants

There are a number of different options to buy rosemary plants online. Unfortunately, the shipping often costs more than the individual plants. This option is a great and tasty compromise – Organic Herbs De Provence Collection with Rosemary, Lavender, Sage, and Thyme. You’ll get 4 plants and pay only slightly more for the shipping than some folks are asking to ship just one plant. Rosemary is a great companion plant but an even tastier companion in this famous culinary blend. Herbs de Provence is one of my new culinary discoveries. I absolutely love the flavor it adds to things. Even adding my el-cheapo, dried blend to Ramen noodles turns this so-so dish into something that tastes like it’s been cooking all day. Throw in some carrots, celery, onion and some left-over chicken and no one will know you did it fast and easy.

Rosemary Seeds

Rosemary is one of those plants that can be grown from seed but sadly often suffers from low germination rates. This package of 100 non-GMO rosemary seeds look to be a great option – lots of seeds to hedge your bets on that low germination rate typically found with rosemary from a vendor who appears to have a fairly good reputation among seed buyers on Amazon.

Ground Rosemary

Here’s a great option if you can’t wait for your own rosemary plants to get large enough to harvest or you like working with finely milled spices. While we don’t have this exact brand of ground rosemary in our kitchen, The flavor of ground rosemary is a wonderful companion to potatoes and scrambled eggs – and no dried twigs like you get with the leaves. Have fun with your kids – a little goes a long way, adding a bit of ground rosemary to scrambled eggs will make them extra tasty but they will also turn a bit green – Green Eggs and Ham, anyone?