Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rosemary For Remembrance

The Bronze Frog Gallery
"There's Rosemary for you, that's for remembrance!
Pray you, love, remember."
William Shakespeare (Ophelia in 'Hamlet')

Herbs and flowers have a language all their own.  
Did you know that rosemary has long been associated with remembrance?  Me either!
Its just another reason why rosemary is one of my favorite herbs!
I love its heady pine scent, as well as its delicate little needles.
Not to mention its wonderful culinary uses.  How can you have lamb without rosemary?

Rosemary is related to the mint family.  Hard to believe as they have entirely different scents.
It thrives in a Mediterranean climate and has been nicknamed "dew of the sea."
Legend has it that the Virgin Mary spread her cloak over a white blossomed bush and when she awoke, the flowers had turned blue.  And so the shrub became known as the "Rose of Mary."

Rosemary was associated with wedding ceremonies in the Middle Ages.
The bride wore a garland in her hair to remember her vows.  
Newlyweds would plant a rosemary branch on their wedding day.  If the branch grew, it was a good omen for their marriage.

Rosemary thrives in Asti. 
 I planted it everywhere and treat it like a shrub, letting it grow with abandon.
I guess that's a good omen for us?

I even planted the trailing type around the spa.  It makes a great ground cover--so much that it had to be cut back.  It was creeping into the water at one time!
It makes for a very therapeutic spa experience, smelling the medicinal-like scent while soaking away those aches and pains!
 It is truly a delight to the senses!

Sir Thomas More summed it up:
"As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls,
not only because my bees love it, but because it is the herb
sacred to remembrance and to friendship..."

How does your rosemary grow?
Pin It!

10 comments:

Pura Vida said...

so beautiful. I love rosemary too, but my new favorite is tarragon!

Our French Inspired Home said...

We have quite a bit of rosemary. I just started treating it as a shrub a few years ago, planting it all over. The scent is so wonderful! I also tried a tuscon rosemary in my herb garden this year that seems to grow much better in our area. Thanks for sharing more scenes! Always beautiful.

Southerncook said...

Loved your post, thought it to be very interesting and I did know it stood for rememberance. I have a topiary as well but only one, I should get another. Yours looked so lovley on a longer table with two. I also grow it in my herb garden and our weather in N FL, it grows as yours does. I am needing to cut mine back as well. It's an herb that I dearly love to use.

Carolyn/A Southerners Notebook

Mr Paul said...

I only heard of the saying 'Rosemary for rememberance' last winter.

I planted huge swathes of rosemary in the garden a couple of years ago with roses coming through, as the bases of roses are always so ugly. It has now knitted together and looks beautiful.

Great to see you also grow the prostrate kind and I love those tabletop topiaried forms Delores.

Paul

FABBY'S LIVING said...

I love the smell of rosemary and your fields left to grow in abandom look lovely! So glad to know it stands for remembrance..I learned something today. Thank you for sharing.
FABBY

Sarah said...

Lovely, Delores! My rosemary grows in abundance too. It's wonderful when one brushes past and the fragrance fills the air. I have to keep it trimmed back along the front walk. It wants to take over. ;-)

One More Time Events said...

A Friend of mine had given me a rosemary when she moved out of state to remember her by. She had told me the story of rosemary. I only have one regret I planted it in the yard and we moved I couldn't take it with me.

Kathysue said...

I love rosemary and I don't have any in my yard. From time to time I buy a plant and have it by my front door, it fragrance gets warmed up by the morning sun, I think I need to go buy some rosemary, thanks for all the knowledge about rosemary, D!
xo Kathysue

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me about the legend of rosemary. Your topiaries are beautiful and I believe I'll be shopping for similar ones!

Leslie Harris said...

No, I never knew that rosemary symbolized rememberance, but it is the one thing I can grow, mostly because it does well with little water, something I'm a bit erratic with. ha. What a lovely post. Now I have a perfect going away gift for someone too.
Leslie (aka Gwen Moss blog)

Related Posts with Thumbnails