You can't get rosemary to grow like that because it needs a strong, woody trunk to hold up the top growth, and rosemary isn't like that. But rosemary is very easy to grow from cuttings. Just take cuttings and put them in a pot and water them and they'll root. About the Tuscan blue - thanks for posting the pic, I have a couple of small ones. I like this one because it has bright blue flowers that are a lot larger than other rosemaries.

Hi jaynine: We obviously have different definitions for "difficult". It's more than just the seed germination time - which for rosemary is annoyingly long. It starts with the generally low seed viability, the long period you have to grow it before setting it out, all the care that the seedlings require after germination, etc.., etc. All that work for some plants that won't grow very big the first year and probably won't make it through the first winter anyway. That's our definition of "difficult". Around here, if you want to have rosemary with some confidence that it will survive the winter outdoors, you can't grow it from seeds. You have to clone it from a known hardy plant or buy a named hardy variety.

Last year we had an arctic blast here that brought sub-zero temperatures along with high winds. Shame on me, I forgot to cover my Arp rosemary. Never the less it survived with only a moderate amount of damge that I was able to prune out in the spring. It has recovered nicely. In an endeavor to find an even hardier rosemary I went by the cold hardiness reference in the Well Sweep catalog. It lists quite a few cultivars that they have found through their own experience to be hardier than Arp. I tried two of those, 'Blue Spire' and 'Logees Blue'. The 'Logees Blue' is just wonderful, with its lemon-thyme undertone to the rosemary fragrance but, alas, it bit the bullet when we had a zero degree night last week. So much for that one. The 'Blue Spire' survived that frigid night with only a modest amount of tip damage, so I assume that it will make the winter here, I hope. Sadly, it is not nearly as appetizing as the 'Logees Blue' or the 'Arp'. All three plants are in the same area of the garden, and fully exposed. Next year I intend to try the varieties 'Salem' and 'Hill Hardy'. I had been told by one source that 'Hill Hardy' and 'Madeline Hill' are one and the same but, I see in the Well Sweep catalog that they have different flower colors. I would assume that if they are seperate cultivars that they would both be worth growing, having been selected by Madeline, herself. I had been told this some time ago. Now I am confused over their identities, and I do not want to order two plants that go by different names that are essentially the same. At some point I would like to try 'Madeline Hill' if it is a cultivar seperate from 'Hill Hardy'. Does anyone here have any input on that? By the bye; The USDA lists my zone as 6. I list my zone as 7a at the GWF because I have found that some zone 7 plants make the winters for me here, regardless of the stray mid-winter zaps. Blessings to all.

Does henbit count?! Okay, that's a winter blooming weed... I did plant some sasanqua camellias last year but they are already done blooming. Am hoping in future years they will bloom a bit later and longer! I do have a bit of leftover fall color - roses still blooming, reblooming irises sending up new scapes, etc. Also, I plant a lot of mixed lettuce greens and edible kale - in addition to being tasty, offer nice color and texture to the winter garden. Otherwise, not much for color, John. Generally I tend to just enjoy the falling leaves right now. Last fall I was going to plant pansies in several areas , but was in a serious car accident late October and couldn't bend right most of the winter. This year I am 8 months pregnant and still can't bend!!! Maybe next year... ~ Suzie