Rosemary: types and varieties with names, cultivation and care with photos

The healing qualities of an evergreen perennial, its aroma has been valued since ancient times. Depending on the varieties of rosemary, notes of lemon, pine, tenderness of the sea are mixed with the aroma of eucalyptus, camphor. Grass bushes are found in nature, on the Mediterranean coast, in nearby mountains, forests. The plant is valued and grown for decorative flowers, but more for using the spice for food and medicinal purposes.

Plant characteristics

Evergreen perennial rosemary is translated from Latin as dew of the sea, the plant is a member of the Lamiaceae family. Upright shoots of grass reach a height of 0.5 to 2 meters.They are densely leafy. The linear leaves of the leathery type are 1.5-3 centimeters long. The plates are narrow with curved edges. Above, the needle-like leaves are shiny, green, dark or light in tone, and pubescent below. Foliage is located on dark gray shoots opposite.

In the active period of life, the bushes are covered with small flowers collected in dense purple panicles, less often white. In the second half of summer, the plant produces seeds, small, brown.

The main biological qualities of spicy culture include it:

drought tolerance;
demanding to light;
increased sensitivity to low temperatures;
resistance to diseases and pests.

Although rosemary prefers to grow in permeable soils, it also tolerates dry, sandy, gravelly soils. Bushes are planted on the slopes for landscaping and fixing the soil.

Flowering ornamental perennial lasts 3-4 weeks, starting in April. Seeds can be harvested in late summer.

Rosemary is used on the southern slopes of the garden, clean from weeds. During the growing season, he needs top dressing. From the second year of life, plantings of fragrant spices are fed in the fall with superphosphate, and in the spring with ammonium sulfate at the location of the root system of the crop.

The herb is harvested in July-August, when the plantation is 3-4 years old. Essential oil is extracted from shoots and leaves. The collected leaves are dried in the shade under a canopy and added to drinks and dishes. Dry grass can be stored for 3 years.

Useful properties of the plant

As part of the leaves and tops of flowering shoots of the semi-shrub, essential oil, which is part of medical preparations. Consisting of pinene, camphene, cineole, camphor and other substances, it is used to make perfumes, alcoholic beverages.

Infusion of perennial leaves helps to cope with:

headaches;
colds;
impaired gallbladder function;
intestinal spasms;
lack of milk in breastfeeding mothers;
neuralgic and rheumatic pains.

The herb is added to smoking mixtures to eliminate asthma attacks. External use of leaf infusion is necessary to combat inflammation of the mouth and throat, boils, acne. The solution is added to baths for neuritis, inflammation of the genital area in women and men.

In cosmetology, grass is used to improve the condition of the skin and hair. It is effective for baldness.

In the composition of spicy compositions, the plant is necessary in order to flavor poultry dishes, sauces. Add grass to tea.

Types of rosemary

In natural conditions, there are several varieties of evergreen perennial. But two types are used in indoor floriculture and horticulture: medicinal, or ordinary, rosemary and prostrate.

Rosemary officinalis

Grass of this species is the most common. Upright bushes, reaching a height of 1.5-2 meters, with dense narrow leaves are found in gardens, in pots on windowsills. Common rosemary, or medicinal rosemary, is grown for consumption as a spice. Its leaves and shoots are valuable as they are used in folk remedies for the treatment of diseases. And the essential oil secreted from parts of the plant perfectly tones, helping to prolong youth, recover from illness.

They use medicinal herbs as a decorative design for summer cottages and gardens. Bushes are covered in spring with panicles of blue, purple, pink and white inflorescences. The specific aroma of plants attracts beneficial insects.

Rosemary prostrate

You can meet a sprawling shrub with a spherical crown in the southern regions. Shoots no more than 70 centimeters in length grow so much that they extend 1.5-2 meters. Needle-thin leaves of this species tend to change color from light green in spring to bluish in autumn.

Due to its ability to grow, shrubs are used to create hedges or designate zones on the territory of a country house.

Rosemary varieties

Breeders have developed new varieties of rosemary perennials that adorn gardens and homes. Outwardly, you can’t immediately distinguish one variety from another, but they still differ in the area of the leaf plate, its color, shape and shades of flowers. Most varieties are rosemary officinalis.

Rosemary Corsican Blue

Evergreen perennial Corsican Blue has a powerful root system, penetrating deep into 3-4 meters. Opposite leaves are grey-green in color. Small blue flowers are collected in dense panicles. The flowering of the variety begins in late April - early May and continues for 20 days.

Use this plant variety for medicinal purposes. It is planted in flower beds, borders are made out. A shrub is suitable for fixing the slopes of the reservoir. It is preferable to plant a plant on sandy, gravelly soils. The perennial is afraid of areas with acidic and marshy soil.

Rosemary Blue Winter

An ornamental shrub valued for its blue-green needle-like leaves. The plant has winter hardiness, enduring frosts down to minus 17 degrees.Rosemary is actively used for fragrant gardens, where lemon balm, chamomile, and mint grow along with the spice. You can apply gray-green shoots with purple flowers in the form of single compositions on the lawn. Perennial serves as a backdrop for rose bushes, peonies.

Rosemary Crimean

Even in the 19th century, workers in the Nikitsky Garden of the Crimean Peninsula began to cultivate rosemary. The semi-shrub begins to bloom in February. At this time, the leaves and tops of the shoots are harvested. A plant about 1 meter high is covered with leathery leaves in the form of gray-green needles. They exude an incomparable aroma that combines the smells of the sea, freshness, lavender.

In the Crimea, you can find rosemary bushes on rocky slopes, in the design of discounts, borders. For medicinal purposes, rosemary plantations are planted, located in the sunny places of the peninsula.

The variety is afraid of even a slight decrease in temperature, so it is better to bring fragrant bushes indoors for the winter.

Rosemary Tenderness

A decorative flowering perennial has thin needles of leaves up to 3-4 centimeters long. By autumn, the green color of the leaves is transformed into a gray-blue. A variety of plants in April appear brushes of blue, delicate flowers.

Shoots successfully grow in the garden, but in regions with cold winters, the conditions of an apartment, a house are suitable for them. Herbaceous culture loves sunny places with good ventilation of fresh air.

To grow crops in containers choose pottery pots filled with nutrient soil mixture. The acidity of the soil should be neutral or slightly alkaline.

Rosemary Dewdrop

The perennial variety belongs to medicinal species of a spicy plant. Reaches technical maturity 63-65 days after germination.The shoots of the plant are densely covered with foliage, the height of the stems reaches no more than 40 centimeters. Leaves with a high content of essential oils are dark green in color, linear-lanceolate in shape.

Suitable for growing in pots. The total weight of the green mass reaches 50 grams from one bush.

Rosemary White

A rare type of plant with white inflorescences. During the growing season, a flowering shrub with a height of 0.5 to 1 meter can become a real decoration of the garden. The beauty of the perennial, its snow-white inflorescences, is set off by the bright green of needle-shaped leaves. The variety belongs to medicinal rosemary. Its leaves and shoots are infused and used to increase vitality and strength.

Ampel Rosemary

The prostrate form of flowering shrub is represented by Ampelous perennial.Container-grown shoots of the plant twist, fancifully hanging along the wall from the pot. You can use a waterfall of twisting branches covered with green long and narrow leaves to create a "living" wall. Will decorate the ampelous look of rosemary and rocky gardens.

Since the variety does not tolerate even small frosts, it is better to grow it indoors.

Rosemary Biryusa

Densely leafy shoots of an evergreen shrub will become a true decoration of the garden and home. The perennial subshrub will always keep its leaves fresh, glossy, with curled edges. Honey inflorescences on erect shoots appear in March, again - in September. Small flowers are located in the axils of the upper leaves and have a color range from light blue to purple.

The peculiarity of the variety is its resistance to drought, sensitivity to low temperatures. It is better to grow the plant in tubs, bringing it to a cool and bright room for the winter.