Rosemary 'Arp'

✨The best Rosemary for WNC! 

'Arp' Rosemary are wonderfully aromatic and exceptionally cold-hardy. With excellent culinary flavor, evergreen foliage, and beautiful sky blue flowers, these beloved perennials belong in every garden.

Cooking with homegrown herbs is such a treat - add your rosemary to breads, meats, drinks, baths, wreaths, and more! 

Rosemary require excellent drainage. They do well in sunny raised beds, and they also make excellent potted plants, particularly in terra cotta for porches or patios. 

❤️RCN Staff Favorite - many of us are growing 'Arp' Rosemary in our own gardens!

• Drought and heat tolerant once established.
• The fragrant, potent oils in Rosemary actively deters deer.
• 36” T x W.
• Cold hardy to zone 6 (-10F).

Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Arp’

Plant Nerd: This particular cultivar was discovered by the late Madalene Hill in Arp, Texas. This plant was sent to the National Arboretum who were so impressed when it survived -10F that they named it Arp.

🌿Rosemary has been an incredibly important herb for numerous cultures over thousands of years - for spiritual, culinary, and medicinal reasons - and many legends and recipes refer to it. The Egyptians used it in their rites, the Greeks used it to cure ailments and to keep moths out of their woolen cloths, the ancient Chinese incorporated it into Traditional Chinese Medicine, Romans found even more medicinal uses for it, Charlemagne insisted it be grown on his farms, Islamic scholars and doctors had recipes to use it to help with eye issues, Renaissance physicians noted in particular that it helped with memory. By this time, the idea that Rosemary could improve memory was considered to be common knowledge, and was referenced by Shakespeare and other authors.

✨Scientists have been very interested in the many beneficial properties of Rosemary. A notable double blind study on college students (Nematolahi, et al., 2017) found that by consuming lots of Rosemary, it lowered their anxiety, lowered their depression, improved their sleep quality, and improved their memory. The researchers state, "Based on the results of previous studies and the current study, rosemary is effective as a memory enhancer." Wow!

🎶Rosemary has even inspired musicians, including Simon and Garfunkel.

✂️The ideal time to harvest Rosemary is before they start to bloom. This may mean that the tiny pretty flowers - which pollinators love - are sacrificed in the process. This problem is easily solved by having multiple plants - some for you, some for the pollinators! Frequent harvesting of Rosemary will also to help to keep them nice and bushy.