Did you know that you can create a nice hedgerow with rosemary?

Tuscan Blue (Rosmarinus officinalis &8216;Tuscan Blue&8217; ) makes a great, fragrant and tasty hedge if you have a full sun area in your landscape.

The Tuscan Blue can be shaped in virtually any form.

Around Christmas time, you&8217;ll see them shaped in a topiary like a Christmas tree.

I&8217;ve seen them shaped like animals, pom-poms and spirals.

I chose to make mine into a box-shape because I harvest for cooking almost daily.

This one will grow to five feet tall and get bushy if you don&8217;t keep it shaped.

Another rosemary that has a good appearance in the landscape is the creeping or prostrate variety. (Rosmarinus officinalis prostratus) These have a sprawling characteristic and will grow to about three feet tall and four to five feet in spread.

The prostrate rosemary is sometimes used as a hanging basket plant which is ok for one season.

After that, you&8217;ll want to repot it or plant it in the ground.

Rosemary comes in a wide variety of cultivars with flowers ranging from deep blue to white, also light blue and even pink.

Be sure to buy your plants from a reputable nursery with knowledgeable staff to insure that you get the exact plants for your landscape.

Please allow me to suggest a book that I frequently use as a reference guide.

A good friend of Home Grown Tomatoes, Jim Wilson, wrote the book &8220;Landscaping With Herbs&8221; and it is definitely one of my favorites of his.

Remember that the humidity can sometimes wear down your rosemary plants so, make sure to plant them in well-drained soil and water them in the early mornings to prevent disease.

Root-rot is a common disease for rosemary.

Kenn Alan can be reached by e-mail at mailto:kennalan@hgtradio.net