How to Propagate Rosemary Plants

How to Propagate Rosemary Plants

For years I purchased rosemary plants from my local nursery, under the impression that my favorite culinary herb was too difficult to start myself.

While it is true that rosemary is particularly challenging to grow from seed, it can be propagated easily from stem cuttings and by root layering.

And starting from seed is not impossible, it just takes a bit of patience and extra care.

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In our guide to growing rosemary, we cover how to cultivate this classic herb in your garden. In this guide, I’ll discuss the different ways to propagate rosemary plants.

Here’s what I’ll cover:

Why is it useful to know how to propagate rosemary?

This herbaceous perennial is hardy in Zone 8 and above. If you are lucky to live in a warm climate, you can plant it once and it will continue to grow each year, sometimes up to a massive four feet tall and wide!

The rest of us, in cooler growing zones, either have to purchase new starts each year or attempt to bring existing plants indoors over winter, which never seems to work out very well for me.

By propagating rosemary yourself, you can avoid buying new starts, and even better, you can grow many plants for little to no cost.

Perhaps the most common method of propagating rosemary, propagation via stem cuttings is an easy way to take one established plant and turn it into several!

Stem cuttings are a popular choice because they are more reliable and much quicker than starting from seed. Additionally, plants grown from cuttings will be identical to the parent plant, so you know exactly what you are getting.

Cuttings should be taken