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
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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 two cold hardy rosemaries I planted last year. I did not do anything to protect them and they have really grown. I guess getting the plants for your zone is best. I live in Mtn Home ID in zone 6.
I have a rosemary plant since 2 years and it was ovewintered once with success. This summer, it gave me some tiny flowers !
I'm living in Quebec city in zone 4 ! You can't imagine how it's very cold here for rosemary...
It will come back "in" home this week-end. Recently, I bought a humidifier and I'll keep it under grow light. I cross my fingers :-)
I leave it outside on my patio. Zone 7, freezes but nothing really extreme.
Would cutting it back be,beneficial?
Now’s not the time to cut it back. Do a hard pruning in the winter when it’s not actively growing.
I'm in zone 6, Cincinnati. I have had a rosemary plant in the ground for 3 years now. It is in a river rock bed. In the winter I cut it back by a third and then stack stone around it, about 5" tall. Then I put leaf mulch in and around the rosemary. I've had very good success.
I have a rosemary plant that is about 20 years old. I live in zone 6 in Vernon British Columbia. I bring it in when the nights get to 0C 32F. I leave it by the basement sliding door with a south exposure. It blooms 2 or 3 times a year and has not been repotted for over 7 years. It reseeds itself on top of the compost that I add every year. It is outside now and just starting to bloom again. I plan in repotting it next spring by cutting some of the roots and pruning it.
I live in Prescott Valley, AZ. The winter can get pretty cold, and we get snow regularly. The previous homeowner made some raised garden beds out of steel livestock water troughs, and earlier this year, I planted a small Rosemary bush in one of them. It grew all summer, and is now a significant bush. Is there anything I can do to prevent this magnificent bush from dying in the freezes this winter?
I have had a potted rosemary plant for many years, bringing it out onto the porch in the summer, and back in to the south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows in the fall, through early spring. It is in a warm room with the sun shining on it in the winter, and is thriving!! It is in a pot over a foot in diameter at the top, and 11 inches tall. The plant itself is 2 feet tall, with many lush branches! Guess it doesn't need cool weather.
