Other Names:  Coastal Rosemary

Description:

An outstanding medium sized shrub featuring tiny, linear, gray-green leaves arranged in whorls; a flush of pale violet-white flowers in spring, then sporadically all year; works well as a hedge or screening plant; can be sheared for a more formal look

Ornamental Features

Small-leaved Coast Rosemary features showy clusters of white star-shaped flowers with lilac purple overtones at the ends of the branches in mid spring. It has attractive dark green foliage with hints of silver. The tiny fuzzy narrow leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Small-leaved Coast Rosemary is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Small-leaved Coast Rosemary is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Small-leaved Coast Rosemary will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for xeriscaping or the moisture-conserving landscape. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This species is not originally from North America.

Small-leaved Coast Rosemary makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.