More herbs going drastically downhill

[Snoop Puss]

Marb, I think your rosemary would survive winter. We get down to minus 17 ºC here some winters (not including wind chill factor) and it does perfectly OK. If worried, maybe put some insulation round the pot, but no need to cover the top. It's hardy stuff.

[Plot70]

We are on a clay soil and have two large bushes with one cut into a hedge. The roots are mostly under concrete and they have been there for years. They both flower every year and only get wet in winter when they are not trying to grow.

[Jungle Jane]

Grit at the bottom of the pot helps drainage but if you mix some sand into the compost it makes the growing medium dry out quicker,like a sandy soil..

[ameno]

Rosemary is frost hardy if it is dry. We grew it outside when we lived in East Anglia, which is pretty cold in winter. The soil was thin light and sandy and that's the key.

This is what they say, but it overwinters just fine here in the damp south west in my clay soil.
I think what it really doesn't like is frequent sub-zero temperatures combined with wet soil. Wet soil (as long as it doesn't waterlog) and non-freezing cold should be fine.

[Snoop Puss]

This is what they say, but it overwinters just fine here in the damp south west in my clay soil.
I think what it really doesn't like is frequent sub-zero temperatures combined with wet soil. Wet soil (as long as it doesn't waterlog) and non-freezing cold should be fine.

We have sub-zero nights for months on end and on the shady side of the valley (where the ground can stay frozen for days if not weeks), it still does well. I'm not sure that cold is the problem.

[greenishfing]

My rosemary is about 4 feet tall and I have to chop it back mercilessly. It is a thug. It is in the middle of my herb plot ( very heavy clay soil). It, touch wood, stands up to the worst that the Yorkshire weather can throw at it. I have never, ever watered it however.
I think you are too kind and nice to your plants.

[Purple Primrose]

I find my rosemary gets brown tips if we've had a lot of strong winds. It's in a well-drained mix of sand and compost and it copes well with our cool, damp climate - it just doesn't much like the wind.

[Babru]

My rosemary had brown tips after the snow this spring, I gave it a haircut and it's fine (apart from pesky rosemary beetles).

In the winter of 2010 we had feet of snow in Edinburgh for weeks, I'd never seen weather like it here, before or since. My 4 foot rosemary in a south facing spot had some dead branches which I pruned off, but survived fine.

[quanglewangle]

An ill-treated rosemary.
This plant has survived ten years clinging to what little soil came with a B&Q turf on top of a dry stone wall. It regularly 'dies' then recovers and has turned itself into kind of bonsai.

[edit] Is exposed. Looking West there is the church tower then Nova Scotia