Pink Flowered Rosemary

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a perennial edible herb of which there are many varieties, some are better than others.  Some are strong growers and others weak, some have upright growth while others cascade over the side of things, some have larger leaves or more fragrance than others.  They are all edible, which is nice. 

For years I have heard about a pink flowered variety of rosemary.  I considered getting one, but I already have a good, very strong growing blue flowered rosemary.  Then, not overly long ago, I found a pink flowered rosemary. 

It was a tiny and weak plant, it had pink flowers, and I figured it was worth giving it a try.  I don't tend to have great success with rosemary cuttings, but I took a cutting anyway.  This cutting survived and grew for me.  

Recently the cutting grown plant started to flower.  It is indeed a pink flowered rosemary, and it is quite pretty.  Just like most varieties of rosemary, it produces a lot of flowers.  

Flowers look white in the photo but are more pink in real life

Pink flowered rosemary

The photos don't capture the colour of the flowers very well.  They look white or very pale pink in the photos, but in real life they are far more pink. 

Rosemary is a culinary herb, all parts are edible, people mostly eat the leaves or use small sprigs in cooking.  I'm happy to say that this pink flowered rosemary smells and tastes pretty much the same as my normal blue flowered rosemary.  Perhaps the pink scent is slightly weaker, but this may be due to growing conditions.  Either way, it smells good enough for me. 

Most rosemary has blue flowers.  I grow an upright variety, as well as a prostrate variety.  They both have blue flowers.  I am tempted to graft a prostrate rosemary onto an upright one and make a weeping plant, but have never gotten around to that. 

Below are some of my blue flowered Rosemary.  Again, my photos don't capture the colour well.  

Most rosemary has blue flowers

One thing I like about rosemary is how many flowers it makes, and how long it flowers each year.  For months on end my plant produces many hundreds of flowers.  At times there are so many flowers that it is hard to see the leaves.

Many beneficial insects and other pollinators like rosemary flowers.  There are so many flowers in such a small amount of space that it takes little effort for bees to collect a lot of nectar and pollen.  

My rosemary pretty much always has bees on it as well as many other species of pollinators.  

Superb fairy wrens and other tiny birds like rosemary too.  They like to forage in shorter grass, and have thick shrubby things they can dart into when danger comes.  Larger birds can't get to the wrens when they hide in the rosemary.

Bees love rosemary

Rosemary produces a lot of flowers over a long time

Another thing I like about rosemary is that the upright varieties can grow quite tall.  I have some blue flowered rosemary growing along the edge of the chicken's run.  Even though my chickens don't tend to eat rosemary it is still beneficial to them.  

The rosemary grows tall and dense, and provides afternoon shade for my hens.  Shade is important, most animals struggle in the heat of summer.   

As it grows through the wire, the chickens brush past it and release some of its oils.  These oils can lower the amount of lice and other external parasites that bother the hens.  This will never eradicate poultry lice, but it can help to reduce lice numbers, which is a good thing.

The massive number of flowers on the rosemary also lures in various insects, which in turn attract small hunting spiders.  The chickens eat many of these insects and spiders.  While the chickens probably don't eat enough of these insects/spiders to lower the feed bill, live food is good for hens and helps them stay healthy.  

Rosemary growing along chicken run to block afternoon sun

It was very windy, these plants are normally more upright

My pink flowered rosemary is still a small plant.  It is growing a 10cm pot of soil, and would benefit from being planted somewhere with more room for root growth. 

I am not sure where to plant it at this stage, but think it will do better in the soil than it does in a small pot.  Perhaps I should also grow this near the chicken's run.  As i grows taller it can also help provide afternoon shade.  Or perhaps I will find somewhere else to plant it.  

I sometimes sell rosemary and other edible herbs and perennial vegetables and heirloom vegetable seeds through my for sale page.  Most things are quite seasonal, so my list of things for sale changes each month.