Close your eyes and breathe in the fresh and lux
scent of your rosemary topiary on your kitchen windowsill… you’ll be
transported to the sun soaked Mediterranean. With a little pruning, a rosemary
plant takes up a little space and is easy to take care of. Step one: buy a
nursery-grown rosemary with an upright stem such as Majorca Pink or Salem.
Single out one stem that will become your trunk – obviously the most vigourous.
Poke a dowel or skewer near the base of the plant and tie a piece of soft yarn
around the dowel and the trunk to secure it. The yarn should be loose and
easily expandable as the trunk grows in diameter. Put your topiary in a warm
sunny spot – turning weekly for equal sun distribution. The goal? To promote
thickening and elongation of the trunk in the weeks to come by carefully trimming
any new stems that appear from the base of the plant. Once the trunk reaches
the height you want, keep it with a ratio of a globe 2 to 3 times the height
and slightly wider than the width of the pot. For care: Repot to prevent the topiary from
becoming root bound, feed with a water-soluble fertilizer once a month during
summer and keep the soil moist. Pinch off growing tips to maintain a full, dense top
and encourage branching. Use trimmings for cooking or root new plants.
Tightwad loves this idea for table decor and hostess gifts!
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