Even though rosemary can grow and thrive without ever being pruned, there are many reasons to do it such as higher productivity, lower risk of pests and diseases, and the fact that it is an excellent way to keep overgrown rosemary bushes under control. However, this is only true if you do it right.
That’s why I want to teach you the best way to prune rosemary. That way, you can avoid some of the mistakes I have made and problems I have run into.
Pruning rosemary has five steps:
- Get pruning shears, disinfectant solution, and gardening gloves
- Identify and cut away any dead foliage
- Identify the foliage you want to prune
- Cut the plant back by up to a third
- Water the plant
I explain each of these steps in this article.
I will teach you absolutely everything you need to know about pruning rosemary starting, of course, with how to do it in the best, easiest, and most effective way so you can enjoy all the benefits it brings.
After explaining how to prune rosemary, I cover the best time to do it, how often you should do it, signs your rosemary needs to be pruned, some common mistakes you should avoid, and a lot more that will make the task as easy and efficient as possible.
How to Prune Any Type of Rosemary in 5 Easy Steps
This guide covers how to prune any variety of rosemary and works regardless if you are growing a common upright-growing variety or one of the less common trailing or creeping ‘Prostrate’ varieties.
1. Get pruning shears, disinfectant solution, and gardening gloves
Before you get started with pruning your rosemary, you have to grab a couple of items. Some are necessary to even get started started and then I have found a handful of items that might not be necessary but can make the task easier.
The essential items needed for pruning rosemary are:
- Pruning shears
- Loppers or hand saw if you are cutting thick branches
- Disinfectant solution for the tools
- Gardening gloves
Of course, you technically don’t NEED gardening gloves to prune plants but it is such an easy way to avoid hurting yourself. Especially with a somewhat spiky and pointy plant like rosemary. You might notice that I’m not wearing any in a photo later in this article. That’s precisely how I know that it is a good idea to use them.
Optional (but helpful) items for pruning rosemary include:
- Clean cloth for cleaning your tools
- A container for collecting foliage
If you have what you need, excellent! Read on. If you aren’t quite sure yet or want to learn more about this, I recommend taking a quick look at another article I wrote where I go into detail about the tools and supplies used for pruning rosemary.
2. Identify and cut away any dead foliage
An important part of pruning rosemary is to remove any dead or dying foliage whether it is stems, leaves, or flowers. Doing so reduces the risk of pests and fungal diseases and also makes the plant more aesthetically pleasing to look at.
Look for any foliage that is turning yellow or brown and becoming crispy and cut it off entirely at about half an inch (or about 1.27 cm) below where it starts. It is important that you cut a bit into the healthy growth to reduce the risk that the problem will spread.
If you want a more detailed explanation of how to do this and why it is so important, I recommend taking a look at another one of my articles where I cover precisely how to trim away dead growth from rosemary.
I prefer to cut away any dead foliage from my rosemary before I get started with the primary part of the pruning, which is cutting back the green foliage. You don’t have to do that. You can also prune the whole plant and remove the dead foliage after. As long as you make sure to do it.
3. Identify the foliage you want to prune
Perhaps you want to give your rosemary bush a certain shape or perhaps you are pruning it entirely for reasons related to plant health and productivity.
Regardless of your reason for pruning your rosemary, you should have an idea of your end goal to prevent cutting it in a way that aligns with it. I speak from experience when I say that planning it out before getting started can make things a lot easier.
If you are pruning for productivity and plant health, plan on cutting every stem back more or less evenly.
If you are pruning for a specific shape, I have found that it can help to draw a quick sketch on a piece of paper so you can compare it to the plant while pruning.
4. Cut the plant back by up to a third
At this point, it is time to cut your rosemary back. How much you should cut it back depends on whether you want to give your rosemary a light or a more comprehensive pruning and whether you are pruning for productivity and plant health or to shape your plant.
Cut the stems on your rosemary plant back by up to one-third of their length. Cutting less is acceptable for light pruning but refrain from cutting stems back by more than a third as it can impede the stem’s ability to regrow.
It is crucial that you get this step right so if you don’t feel entirely confident yet, I have written another article with a more detailed explanation of how much to cut back rosemary.
5. Water the plant
Once you’re done pruning your rosemary, you should give it some water. this can help reduce the stress on the plant and prevent dehydration and instead promote new growth.
Rosemary is easy to overwater so make sure you don’t overdo it. One thorough and deep watering right after pruning and then back to the regular watering routine seems to work well.
Best Time to Prune Rosemary (Best Time of the Day and Year)
The best time to prune rosemary depends on growing conditions and climate but one thing makes it easy to figure out when to do it in your specific situation.
The ideal time to prune rosemary is three weeks after the last frost in the spring as the plant is usually not growing actively yet at this time and therefore has the maximum amount of time to regrow and produce new foliage before next winter.
The best time of the day to prune rosemary is in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sunlight gets too intense. This minimizes stress on the plant and gives it the ideal conditions to recover from the pruning since it benefits from a full day of sunlight right away.
If the timing allows it, pruning after rosemary finishes flowering is also excellent as it allows you, your rosemary, and the rest of your garden to benefit from the flowers for as long as possible. Rosemary flowers are excellent for attracting bees and other pollinators which benefit your garden as a whole.
The pruning window for rosemary extends from three weeks after the last frost in the spring until 4-6 weeks before the first frost in the fall or winter but I highly recommend doing it in the spring for the reasons I mention here. If you want to learn more about this, I have written another article where I cover the best time to prune rosemary in detail.
Light pruning can generally be done throughout the whole year although there are some things to be aware of when doing it in cold months. Primarily that you should not cut the plant back too much since it might prevent it from recovering fully. If this is relevant to you, I recommend taking a look at another article I wrote specifically about pruning rosemary in cold months.
How to Tell if Rosemary Should Be Pruned (7 Signs)
If you don’t know what to look for, it isn’t easy to know if your rosemary should be pruned but luckily, there are some very specific things to look for.
Perhaps the clearest sign that you need to prune at least part of your rosemary is dead foliage.
Dead or dying growth should be removed as fast as possible as it allows the plant to funnel its energy towards growth and production of new foliage rather than recovery. Pruning away dead growth also reduces the risk of pests and fungal diseases.
Dead foliage can appear in different ways but the most common way is like in the photo below where the tip of one of the stems is turning brown and crispy. If that happens, you have to cut just below where it starts like I do here — approximately half an inch or so (just over 1 centimeter) into the fresh foliage.
Dead foliage may be a clear sign that you should prune your rosemary but it isn’t the only sign that you should consider it.
Here are some signs you should consider pruning your rosemary.
- Dead or dying growth
- Leggy and scraggly growth
- The plant has become overcrowded
- The plant has outgrown its location
While these often mean that you should prune your rosemary, they can also mean other things. To know for sure what it means in your situation, I recommend reading another article I wrote specifically about signs rosemary should be pruned.
A mistake I made early on when I started growing rosemary was that I pruned it too often. I did this because I was excited to help the plant out but in reality, I did the opposite. You shouldn’t make this mistake, which is why I cover precisely how often you should prune your rosemary now.
How to Know How Often You Should Prune Your Rosemary
Pruning is a perfect way to make your rosemary bushier and more productive but if you do it too often, it can have the opposite effect.
Rosemary should be pruned once per year in the majority of the world. The exception to this is in the warmest parts of the world with extremely mild winters where rosemary grows rapidly. In these places, it can be beneficial to prune twice per year.
The best time to prune rosemary is in the spring. If you live in a tropical area and plan on pruning twice per year, make it spring and fall, approximately six months apart.
If you aren’t sure how often you should do it in your specific situation, I recommend reading my article where I go into detail about how often rosemary should be pruned.
Common Mistakes When Pruning Rosemary (And How to Avoid Them)
Pruning may not be the most complicated task you have to do when growing rosemary but there are a handful of mistakes that are easy to make which you must avoid.
Even experienced gardeners make mistakes and I certainly do too but to minimize the risk for you, I want to teach you about some mistakes that are easy to make when pruning rosemary so you can hopefully avoid them.
The most common mistake when pruning rosemary is cutting it back too hard. Rosemary stems should be cut back no more than one-third of their length. Cutting back more than that can prevent the plant from recovering entirely.
If you want to be certain that you don’t cut your rosemary back too hard when you prune it, you can just prune the tips like I do in the photo below.
While pruning too hard is a common mistake, it is far from the only one. I cover some more now.
Here are some common mistakes people make when pruning rosemary that you must avoid.
- Pruning more than 1-2 times per year
- Pruning when there is frost
- Cutting the plant back by more than a third
- Using dirty tools when pruning
- Not using sharp pruning shears
- Not removing dying foliage
- Pruning the plant unevenly
I have written another article where I go into more detail about these rosemary pruning mistakes and how to avoid them. I highly recommend taking a look at the article, because most of these mistakes can kill your plant.
The Importance of Pruning Rosemary (What Happens if You Don’t)
Even though rosemary can grow and thrive without ever being pruned, it is recommended to do it as it promotes growth and productivity and improves plant health.
The photo below is from Spain where rosemary grows naturally in many parts of the country where nobody ever comes to prune it. While this plant, and the many others like it, definitely have their charm, they are not ideal for a gardener.
Rosemary becomes tall and scraggly if it is never pruned. It won’t have nearly as much fresh green foliage as if it was pruned which means that it won’t be nearly as productive. Never pruning also increases the risk of pests and fungal diseases from dead or dying foliage that is not removed.
This isn’t the only reason why pruning rosemary is important though, so keep reading.
Here are eight reasons why pruning is important.
- Pruning promotes growth
- Pruning increases productivity and gives bigger yields
- Pruning makes the plant bushier
- Pruning can improve airflow
- Pruning can prevent pests and diseases from spreading
- Pruning is used to remove dead growth
- Pruning can help plants fit in spots with limited space
- Pruning can help make plants more visually appealing
I have another article where I elaborate on the importance of pruning rosemary, which I recommend reading as I go into more detail about each of these reasons.
Cutting Rosemary Back for the Winter (Why You Shouldn’t Do It)
A question I have very often seen raised online is if you should cut rosemary back for the winter so I wanted to answer it once and for all.
Do not cut rosemary back for the winter. While you can prune rosemary until 4-6 weeks before the last frost, it should NOT be done to prepare the plant for winter. Besides, it is better to prune rosemary in the spring as it gives the plant the maximum amount of time to regrow before next winter.
Cutting rosemary back for the winter is a common misunderstanding and can actually harm the plant as it doesn’t have much time to recover before a period with low temperatures and little sunlight.
I have written another article which I recommend reading if you want to learn more about cutting rosemary back for the winter.
Root Pruning Rosemary (How and When to Do It)
Root pruning is a method used to prevent potted plants from becoming root bound without having to repot them.
Root pruning does not replace regular pruning but it does fall under the same category as it is about cutting parts of the plant back to make room for new growth, so I wanted to include it in this article. The difference is that with regular pruning, you cut the foliage back and with root pruning, you (surprisingly) cut the roots back.
To root prune rosemary, carefully lift it out of its pot and remove the bottom third (at most) of the root system by cutting it with a hand saw or a serrated knife. Fill the bottom of the pot with fresh soil and place the plant back into the pot.
That way, the roots have room to grow again and you can keep your rosemary in the same pot.
It is best to root prune rosemary in the spring. That way, the roots have the maximum amount of time to regrow before next winter, which gives the plant the best conditions for surviving.
While root pruning is not the most complicated task, it can go wrong and harm or even kill the plant. So if you are considering doing it, I recommend taking a look at another one of my articles where I wrote a complete guide to root pruning rosemary. That way, you have the best chance of success.