Grow and Care for Florida Rosemary

Grow Florida rosemary in full sun, on deep sand that drains, and skip extra water once the roots are in. Florida rosemary is Ceratiola ericoides, also sold as sand heath.

Give it full sun, dry sand, and room to stand 4 to 8 feet

Florida rosemary wants full sun and a hole of deep sand that stays dry after rain. Water a new shrub through the first dry weeks, then ease off; an established plant takes missed water better than soggy sand. [1] Sand Heath is a dense evergreen mound about 4 to 8 feet tall and wide, with needle-like dark-green leaves that can smell faintly of rosemary when you crush them. [2] Once the roots are in, skip extra water and skip rich compost that stays wet. This is a dry sandhill shrub, not a border plant for moist loam.

Plant a nursery shrub, and do not break the thin roots

Buy a nursery plant at least a year old, in a gallon pot if you can find one. The roots are thin and break easily, so slide the root ball out and set it at the same depth it sat in the pot.

1. Plant a nursery shrub that is at least one year old. Do not use a seedling younger than that. [3]
2. Slide the root ball out. Do not tease or chop the thin roots.
3. Set it at the same depth it sat in the pot, in deep sand that drains. Leave 4 to 8 feet so the mound can fill in.
4. Water it in, then skip extra water once new growth shows. Keep it off the first dune line, where salt spray and wind hit the foliage.

Root a softwood cutting in a coarse mix

The usual way to start a new shrub is a softwood cutting. Seed is slower. Do not root this plant in a glass of water the way kitchen rosemary is often started.

1. Take a tip cutting about 3.5 inches long and strip the leaves from the bottom half inch.
2. Stick it in a coarse mix that drains, such as perlite and vermiculite, or pine bark and sand.
3. Keep the mix barely moist under a mist, or in a bright spot out of standing water, for 8 to 12 weeks until roots form.
4. Leave the rooted cutting in the cell for several months before you move it to a larger pot, because the new roots break off easily.

Sow seed after you nick the coat

Seed works, but it is slow. Collect the small yellow-green fruits from December through March, dry them for at least a week, then nick the seed with sandpaper so it can sprout in about six months instead of eight to twelve.

1. Collect fruit from a female plant from December through March and air-dry it for at least a week.
2. Nick the seed with sandpaper.
3. Sow it in a pot at least 6 inches deep, in a mix that drains, and water only as needed.
4. Wait. Seedlings stay tiny for a long time. Do not plant a seedling younger than one year.

Not kitchen rosemary — and not coastal rosemary

Kitchen rosemary is a Mediterranean herb grown for cooking. If the tag says rosemary, Tuscan Blue, or a potted Christmas-tree rosemary, read How to Grow Sage.

Coastal rosemary is Westringia, an Australian hedge. If the tag says coastal rosemary or Mundi, read How to Grow Coastal Rosemary. A European heath sold as sand heath is Erica; that keep-alive is How to Grow Heath.

False rosemary is Conradina, a mint-family scrub shrub with showy lavender flowers. Florida rosemary has tiny yellow-brown flowers and a dark-green mound. In Georgia scrub, a shorter gray-green shrub with pink flowers is calamint, not this plant. [4] Do not eat Florida rosemary as an herb substitute.

If the sand stays wet, move the shrub to a hole that drains, and skip extra water once the roots are in.