Plant Focus: Rosmarinus ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’

A Rosemary? Yes, I am extolling the virtues of a simple, commonly available Rosemary plant.

What’s to like?

Rosmarinus ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’ is a columnar, strong growing Rosemary, which produces a lot of needle-like leaves, which are ideal for cooking.  But it is also a really useful garden plant.  It is ideal for providing evergreen interest in a herb garden, and also in any garden border – after all, it is a shrub in its own right, and one with interesting leaves and pretty purple-blue flowers in Spring and early Summer.

Note that the images above are actually Rosmarinus officinalis; unfortunately this time we couldn’t find any appropriately licenced photos of Rosmarinus ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’ to use for this post! However, a quick Google search will supply you with images and further information/buying choices.

Where to use it

Like all Mediterranean plants it loves full sun and prefers a well drained soil.  But it is pretty tough and will cope with most conditions – mine sailed through the Beast from the East in 2018.

Left to its own devices, it would probably reach 2m high and wide, so is best regularly clipped / pruned (I keep mine at around 1m high and a bit less wide) – unless you devour vast quantities of Rosemary, the plant will produce far more than you will ever need.  But it is a generally elegant garden plant and worth a place in more than just herb gardens.

It fits well in a Mediterranean theme, and is also well suited to the current white / blue / purple trend.  It is a good centrepiece or “bookend” in a medium height border too.  And, of course, as gardens get ever smaller, having multiple uses makes this Rosemary a handy plant to know.

Image credits: Maja Dumat, dobroide, Helena.