Rosemary is a useful garden herb that can be enjoyed for its beauty, its smell, and its uses in recipes.
I like to keep rosemary in my garden at all times to have fresh herbs available for cooking, as well as to add some fragrance to the garden and home.
If you have some rosemary, you can always make more plants by utilizing cuttings.
You’ll need some sharp scissors or shears to take a cutting. Then, you’ll need a small pot of coarse horticultural sand, a pencil, and cinnamon. Then, you’ll need a place to house the new rosemary plant. It’s really that easy!
Make the Cuttings
There are both hard woods and soft woods on a rosemary plant. A soft wood can be bent without it breaking.
At the base of the branches is the hard wood, and this would snap if bent. When you take your cutting, it must be from the soft wood, and it should be about 5″ long.
Use either sharp scissors or pruners to cut the bottom of the soft wood stem at a 45-degree angle.
This opens the capillaries of the cutting and allows it to take in water so that it can grow roots.
Take the cutting and remove the leaves from a third of the stem, starting at the base.
There should be a couple of inches of stem that is bare after this. With the leaves stripped, you can use them as potpourri or in a meal.
Rooting the Cuttings
The next step is to get the cutting to grow new roots so it can be planted and start a new rosemary plant.
You can either root the cuttings in water or in a small pot of sand.
If you place the cuttings into water, make sure that only the bare third of the stem is in water. The leaves shouldn’t touch it at all. If you choose water for rooting, and I usually do, thanks to its simplicity, make sure that you change the water every few days throughout the process.
There is no need to use any rooting hormone for rosemary- it will grow roots on its own relatively quickly.
And, you can use the same container of water for many cuttings.
You can also use a pot of coarse sand to grow your roots. Use a pencil to make a hole in the sand to place your cutting in.
Wet down the sand and keep it moist. The pot should have great drainage holes that will keep the sand from absorbing too much water.
Some find this to be easier than propping up cuttings in a water container. Using a terra cotta pot is helpful for keeping the water regulated.
Tip: If you use sand, it’s a good idea to dip the angled ends of the cuttings in a little bit of cinnamon.
Cinnamon can prevent any rotting of the stem while it’s kept moist. Make sure that only the bare area of the stem is in the sand.
Root Growth and Repotting
If you use water for rooting, keep the container in an area that is semi-shaded.
If you use a pot of coarse sand, keep the sand moist but not soaking wet and place it in bright, indirect sunlight.
A cutting in water will start making roots in two to three weeks.
With the sand method, roots start forming within about four to six weeks.
With either method, once the roots start to grow, you can repot your new plants into a pot of soil.
Keep the new rosemary plant in a bright window.
