Blog

Well, it’s official.  Yesterday, on Feb. 14, 2007, the New and Improved Gardenerd.com officially went live.  We’re up and running, and we’re ready and waiting for your participation in this new gardening community.  If you haven’t already seen it, check out www.gardenerd.com for loads of cool gardening links, planting and seasonal information, and just plain fun stuff (like the Tip of the Week, Ask Gardenerd and more).  I look forward to sharing this site with fellow garden friends all over the country.

This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, plant a rosemary bush in your herb garden if you don’t already have one.  Not only is it the herb of lovers, it makes a lovely addition to your winter cooking. From roasted potatoes to Tuscan bean soup, rosemary brings savory flavor to your winter dishes.

Let’s not forget that rosemary is also a low maintenance and drought tolerant plant.  Here in Southern California, with only a few days of rain so far this winter, the rosemary is flowering with beautiful purple blooms.  The best time to prune rosemary is after it finishes blooming.  Rosemary is very versatile – it can be used as a hedge, ground cover, or one of my favorite things – a topiary.  In my dream world, I have matching rosemary topiaries shaped like spirals on either side of my front door.  I had one shaped like a sphere for many years, but without a strong pruning spine on my part, it became more of a tree than a dainty little sphere.  Here’s to experimentation!  Do you have a favorite use for rosemary, either in the kitchen or the garden?  Share it here.