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Arlene Wright-Correll |
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Arlene Wright-Correll |
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| The Rosemary Tree©
by Arlene Correll |
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Tuesday,
December 03, 2002
Most
years I purchase a rosemary tree for someone else.
This year I may purchase one for myself.
The problem is I am not here in KY from mid-December to
mid-March. However,
I think I will get one at Christmas time and drag it all over
the south and southwest with us and finally get it home. The rosemary trees that I have given to others as gifts never seem to make it for long. Our oldest daughter who lives in Florida put hers by the swimming pool in a |
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container
with no
drain hole and proceeded to drown it.
I don’t know what our daughter-in-law, Pam did with hers.
I just know it didn’t make it. So, I will
see what I can do with one as soon as I pick one up.
I love rosemary. I love it with butter on fresh carrots.
I love to put it into soups and other good stuff. I just love the
smell of it. And it is
great to put into stuffing or rub on your holiday birds, prior to
baking. This is one herb,
we use a lot of at the Home Farm Herbery.
We love it in our Frittatas. Frittatas are a wonderful way to
clean out the refrigerator with some panache! So what do
we do with those lovely little trees that are sold in Wal-mart or Lowes
or Home Depot? You know the ones I’m talking about. They are out there
about 3 weeks before Thanksgiving and are really hard to resist. Most herbs
come from the Mediterranean and the soil is very gravelly there. Plus
lots of dry season even on some of the islands like the Balearic
Islands. Like
everything in life, there is a little secret to things. And the secret
to rosemary is that it likes to be constantly moist but doesn't like to
sit in the water, so it has to be well drained.
Rosemary hates water around its roots, but it will die if the
roots dry out. Just like some people, it likes to shower every day, but
not sit in a bath! With
that in mind, what do you do about it? First, upon arriving home from the store with your plant, you
put pot and all
into a larger pot filled with gravel. Be sure the bigger pot has
a hole at the bottom for drainage. You can place all of this on a plant
saucer to catch water. If you don’t have a plant saucer, use a
disposable aluminum pie plate or some other kind of dish for a
“catcher” to keep the water off your table or countertop. Every day
or every other day simply water your rosemary at the base of the plant.
It doesn't need much, perhaps half a cup. Let the water run right
through the plant and out into the saucer (be sure to empty the saucer).
Nowadays I do not have many plants in our home.
Our flowers from our gardens are what we use in the spring,
summer and fall. So I do
not keep anything that needs to be maintained in the winter when I am
not here. However, when I did keep a lot of indoor plants, I just put my plants in the sink every morning and water them that ways, letting all the water go down the drain. Then I put them back in place with something under them to catch more water. Now
rosemary needs a bath every once in awhile, just like all of us do. A
gentle rising gets rid of any dead leaves and other debris that tend to
build up around the base of the plant.
Remember not to wash the soil away.
You can let it soak for a little while, and then drain very well. For those
of you who like long steamy showers, once a week or every few days, take
the rosemary tree into the bathroom with you. Put it on the counter or
sink and close the door while you are taking the long shower. While you
are feeling good, the rosemary will get the humidity it likes. Now at
this point, your plant makes it through the winter, then in the spring
you can plant it pot and all in a sunny, well-drained location and make
sure it gets plenty of water. I would dig a hole about 2 or 3 times bigger in diameter and
about ½ again as deep. I
would fill the hole with 2 or 3 “ of gravel and then center my
rosemary pot on top of the gravel.
Then I would fill the diameter of the hole with more gravel
around the pot until the top of the pot. Your rosemary should grow beautifully. Make sure that there is plenty of room in the pot, and mix the potting soil with sand or vermiculite- anything to keep it draining well. Gravel mixed with your dirt works really well. As it grows it will probably get “bushy”. During
this time, you can go out and snip off fresh rosemary and use it in all
your wonderful recipes. Be
careful not to get to crazy with the scissors, especially if you want to
bring the rosemary back to its original tree shape again in the fall. Before the
first frost, bring in your rosemary. You can then shape it into a tree,
and enjoy the "trimmings" on your Thanksgiving or Christmas
turkey. Take your
“trimmings”, place on a clean cookie sheet in one layer.
Pre-heat your oven to 350°
and place the cookie sheet in oven for 3 to 5 minutes. This should dry the herb out well enough for you to then put
it in an airtight jar for your winter use. Rosemary
leaves and branches are pretty tender, but are really worth the time and
effort to enjoy this fresh herb all year round. In my old
age, I spend a great deal of time trying to get the Home Farm Herbery
off the ground. I have
developed quite a knack for blending herbs and spices and we are just
starting to get people buying our unique blends. If anyone wants a brochure, just email me and I will email
back an attachment that contains our brochure.
Better still, visit our website. We have
pictures of them on our website. Just
click on this hyperlink, www.learn-america.com/stories/storyReader$218
and that should get you to our page and see what we have. Right now I am developing some lavender skin cream and some rose skin cream. As soon as
I get it to where I am satisfied with it.
It will be added to our page.
As of now, everyone who has tried our baths salts loves it and
has come back for more. Just email
me with any questions or if you are in the area, stop in and say hello.
Please remember to …… “Tread
the Earth Lightly”… and in the meantime… may your day be filled
with… Peace,
Light and Love, Arlene
W. Correll About
the author, Arlene
Wright-Correll (1935-
), free lance writer, award winning artist and avid gardener is
mother of 5 and the grandmother of 8.
For almost 40 years she was an International real estate
consultant and during the last 20 years of her career traveled to many
parts of the world. She
has been a cancer and stroke survivor since 1992.
While working and raising her children she had many hobbies
including being a very serious home-vintner for approximately 14 years
while residing in upstate New York in St. Lawrence County producing
2,000 to 3,000 bottles of wine a year.
She was the president of the St. Lawrence County chapter of the
American Wine Society in
"Tread the Earth Lightly" & in the meantime
may your day be filled with... Peace, Light, and Love, Arlene Wright-Correll www.learn-america.com |
