Pruning is an easy way to keep your rosemary looking nice and tidy and will even make it bushier and more productive and reduce the risk of various problems. If you do it too rarely or too often though, it won’t have the desired effect. So how often should you prune your rosemary?
Rosemary should generally be pruned one time per year to achieve the best results. In very warm areas that never get frost and where it grows rapidly, it can be pruned twice per year. This gives it enough time to grow back and produce new foliage while also causing it to become bushier and more productive.
Since everybody is in different situations and has different conditions where they live, there is no definitive answer to how often rosemary should be pruned. It depends on your situation and the conditions your plant has.
That’s why I wrote this article. To teach you what you need to know in order to determine how often your rosemary needs to be pruned. I also cover what happens if you never prune it or if you do it too often.
How Often Should Your Rosemary Be Pruned? How to Know
Rosemary is one of those plants that can grow and thrive without ever being pruned. It grows naturally in many parts of the world and is native to the Mediterranean region where it also grows outside in nature without anybody taking care of it.
That said, if you want a good yield and a nice-looking, bushy plant, you should definitely prune it, but you must know how often to do it.
It is best to prune rosemary one time per year in the vast majority in the world, although twice per year can be beneficial in warm areas that never experience frost and where the plant grows vigorously.
The most important thing to keep in mind when determining how often you should prune your rosemary is that it needs time to grow back. If it grows rapidly and you already pruned it in the spring, which is the best time of the year to do it, you can do it again later in the year.
Remember that the vast majority of us should only do it one time per year, but if you do decide to do it twice, for example in the spring and again in the fall, make sure there is zero risk of frost for the next 4-6 weeks.
Even though rosemary can survive a bit of frost (down to about 10-20° F or about -7 to -12° C), it prefers no frost. Especially after being pruned since it is more fragile in the beginning.
I have another article where I go into more detail about why you shouldn’t prune rosemary in the cold months.
What if you’re still not sure how often you should do it?
Then only do it one time per year and do it in the spring.
As I already mentioned, rosemary can grow fine without ever being pruned, so it is better to stay safe and not overdo it. Don’t be scared of doing it once per year though, as you will certainly be doing your plant a favor which it will repay you for by growing back bushier and more productive than before.
You should also know how to tell if your rosemary needs to be pruned. I cover this in another article where I share signs to look for that indicate that you should prune your rosemary.
Even though it might be easier, there are consequences to never pruning your rosemary. I cover those now.
What Happens if You Never Prune Rosemary?
Even though rosemary can grow and thrive without ever being pruned, I highly recommend that you do it. That is unless you don’t care about its yield and appearance but since you’re here, I assume that you do.
Never pruning rosemary has several consequences.
- If you don’t prune your rosemary, you will be missing out on the majority of its potential yield since it won’t produce nearly as much foliage overall.
- The foliage also won’t taste as good and be more stringy and chewy if you don’t remove old growth. Sure, the plant will still produce new foliage, but not nearly as much as if you prune it.
- The plant won’t look as nice and tidy as if it is being pruned every year.
- There is a higher risk that the plant will be infected by pests and diseases.
I have written another article where I go into more detail about why it is important to prune rosemary.
As I covered earlier in this article, rosemary grows naturally in many parts of the world without ever being pruned or otherwise taken care of. It grows just fine and can live for many years but as gardeners, we generally want productive and nice-looking plants.
Instead of becoming nice, fresh green, and bushy, it will become tall, woody, and scraggly like this one my dad snapped a photo of for me on a trip to Spain, where rosemary grows naturally.
The rosemary bush from Spain in the photo above definitely has its charm but as you can see, it is not nearly as bushy as it could be and the foliage looks dark green instead of fresh and bright green.
Below is a photo of another rosemary bush. This time from my father-in-law’s garden. He prunes it every year in the spring.
Even though it is much smaller than the plant in the photo above, it produces more fresh and green foliage that can be harvested and enjoyed. That’s because it is being pruned properly one time per year.
If you have decided that it might be time to prune your rosemary after seeing the difference it can make, check out my complete guide on how to prune rosemary where I cover everything you need to know.
What Happens if You Prune Rosemary Too Often?
There are cases where rosemary can be pruned twice per year, but it should almost always only be pruned once per year. Doing it too often won’t have the desired result.
If you prune rosemary more than once per year, or twice if you live in a very warm area where it grows rapidly, it won’t have enough time to produce new foliage and grow back properly.
Pruning too often is a common mistake but you should definitely avoid it. It is not the only thing to be aware of when pruning rosemary though, so head over to my other article where I cover some common mistakes people make when pruning rosemary including how to avoid them and what to do if it already happened.