UC Master Gardeners, Santa Clara County, CA
University of California
UC Master Gardeners, Santa Clara County, CA

Water Wise Plants

Rosmarinus officinalis 'Tuscan Blue'

Pronunciation
ross-mah-RYE-nus oh-fi-shi-NAH-lis
Common Name
Tuscan Blue Rosemary
Plant Type
Shrub
Mature Size
6 ft. to 7 ft. tall and 1 1/2 ft. to 2 ft. wide
Water Requirements
Low: water every three weeks until the root ball is wet
Sun/Shade Requirements
Full sun
Wildlife
  • Bees
Flower Color
Blue
Maintenance- Design- Planting Tips

Rosemary is one of the toughest shrubs in the garden and a great evergreen plant to anchor a summer dry bed. It is from the Mediterranean Basin and is well suited to the Santa Clara Valley climate. There are many different varieties and forms, some tall, others spreading. Flower color can also vary from pale blue to deep blue, and less commonly, pink and white.

Rosemary starts blooming in the winter and provides food for bees when little else is blooming. It sometimes has a small bloom in the late summer and fall as well.

PADG Notes: The 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary shrubs in the garden have never grown taller than 4 feet and are more ball shaped than vertical. Part of this may be due to less watering and part of this may be due to our pruning regime. It is pruned by one half to one third after it finishes blooming in late spring to control its height. The side branches which fall on other plants are also pruned. Once the plants become mature, up to one third of the large woody branches are pruned to control plant size and maintain vigor.

To minimize pruning, we have taken out several of our 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary shrubs and replaced them with the smaller cultivar 'Mozart', a UC Davis Arboretum "All-Star.”

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