Rosemary for Christmas

For this blog post I wanted to write about something involving Christmas and gardening. I started with a Google search of plants for Christmas. I came up with the usual suspects: English Holly, Mistletoe, Poinsettia, Amaryllis, Frosty Fern, Norfolk Island Pine, Christmas Cactus and then Rosemary. Rosemary? Why was rosemary on the list for Christmas plants? Don’t get me wrong, I love rosemary. I love that it is relatively easy to grow, it is evergreen, it has pretty little blue flowers, it smells nice and I love cooking with it. It is a very pleasant plant to have in the garden and I would consider it a must have but I never would have associated it with Christmas. After some thought, I did realize that it was common to see rosemary at Christmas time in decorative festive pots trimmed in the shape of a Christmas tree. I just thought stores did this as an alternative to pine trees.

Turns out, after some reading, there are a few links with rosemary and Christmas. Rosemary represents remembrance and love. Both of these sediments are perfect for the holiday season. This festive little plant was used during Christmas time as early as the 16th century. During this time it was rosemary that was decorated for the holiday. After the holidays the rosemary was planted back out in the garden and trimmed throughout the year to maintain its cone shape for the next year’s Christmas celebrations. Rosemary remained as popular as mistletoe and holly until the 20th century when poinsettias and pine trees took over popularity.

In recent years, rosemary has made a comeback for the holidays. Many people who do not have the space for a large tree have turned to using rosemary. The fragrant, beautiful pine-like needles have made it a superb back-up to today’s traditional pine, fir or spruce. Not to mention, you can always trim a few needles off for cooking. 

One of my favorite legends regarding rosemary is that anyone who smells rosemary on Christmas Eve will have happiness during the coming year. I love this idea! Not only do I love the fragrance of rosemary but this is a tradition I can get on board with. This Christmas Eve I am going to have everyone in my family take the time to smell rosemary because why not enjoy a little old time folklore this holiday.

Another legend is that rosemary’s flowers used to be white. The flowers turned blue, according to the legend, when Mary draped her blue cloak over a rosemary bush during her flight to Egypt. Once she removed her cloak to continue on her journey, the flowers took on the color of her cloak and the plant retained Mary’s fragrance. I love stories such as these. Just thinking about even the possibility of it being true is fun and magical, especially this time of the year.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about rosemary and its connections to Christmas with me. I love reading about the history and folklore surrounding the plants that we continue to grow today. I will write a more in depth “Plant Profile,” on rosemary because I enjoy growing this plant and I think every garden should have a rosemary in its collection. I just wanted to keep this post about rosemary and Christmas.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Don’t forget to take the time to stop and smell the rosemary with your friends and family! Enjoy a little Christmas gardening magic this holiday.

Happy gardening and see you next year!

Joy Simper has a full time job as a home schooling stay at home mom. She is the one that holds the house and yard together and keeps the kids in line. She enjoys gardening, including seed starting and propagating plants.