Sat. noon, 4 p.m. or Sun. at 9 a.m. www.klru / Also this weekend

they're fundraising at KLRU. You can show your support for this

amazing.show by pledging on-line at www.klru.org.

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Pond Society Tour this weekend: visit 21 beautiful ponds in the

Austin area, for $20. See www.austinpondsociety.org for details.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis),  an evergreen  herb from the Medi-

terranean, is considered easy to grow in our central Texas climate and

well suited to our drought conditions.  Rosmarinus means  Dew of the

Sea in Latin, a reference to the small amounts of water needed to sustain

growth.

Wikipedia lists at least 20 forms of this amazing herb, from ground-

covers to large varieties reaching heights of 4 feet. Most rosemary

blooms a deep blue color throughout the year but can be found in white,

pink, and purple. Leaves can be small or quite large and wide. A variety

called Goriza has the largest leaves that I have seen.

 

Full sun to part shade will sustain this perennial evergreen shrub.  Just

as important is a well drained location. Rosemary doesn’t care much

for wet feet.

 

Last year brought a few new surprises to the world of rosemary. This

beautiful and important culinary herb – which is also a member of the

mint family –  has two new additions to the myriad of varieties available.

Before I received some cuttings of the first one – called Bar-B-Que -  

I thought it was going to smell like the Salt Lick over in Driftwood!  

As it turns out, it has the pine scent of rosemary and a growth habit

that’s strongly upright, producing great skewers for the barbecue.

 

The second addition is called Foxtail. This semi-dwarf variety grows

to 2 feet by 2 feet with dense foliage resembling a foxtail. . . very sim-

ilar to the leaves of a foxtail asparagus fern. This variety will look

good as a border plant, a basket plant, or just an unusual specimen in

the landscape.

 

With their long blooming season, the rosemaries are excellent bee

plants and are also considered attractive by butterflies. I can only i

magine a honey flavored by rosemary.

 

Rosemaries are fun to grow and fun to collect as well as being useful

in the kitchen.  We are always looking out for a new variety.

 

                                     Happy gardening everyone!