Holiday Decorating: Rosemary Christmas Trees

 This year I decided to find out what I was doing wrong or be doomed to a rosemary-free kitchen! Oh, no! 
Cub Foods always has healthy, inexpensive plants, so I asked them how they keep their rosemary Christmas trees looking so beautiful. The floral manager told me that rosemary can be tricky, but anyone who learns the trick can take care of one and they can get quite big. The secret to rosemary is that it likes to be constantly moist but doesn't like to sit in the water, so it has to be well drained. Rosemary hates water around its roots, but it will die if the roots dry out. Just like some people, it likes to shower every day, but not sit in a bath! 

Here is what you do: 

-When you get your plant home from the store, place it (pot and all) into a larger pot filled with gravel. Be sure the bigger pot has a hole at the bottom for drainage. You can place all of this on a plant saucer to catch water. 

-Water your rosemary (at the base of the plant) every day or every other day. It doesn't need much, perhaps half a cup. Let the water run right through the plant and out into the saucer (be sure to empty the saucer). I just put my plants in the sink every morning and water them that way, letting all the water go down the drain. Then I put them back in place with something under them to catch more water.