Rosemary Christmas Tree

A Rosemary Christmas Tree is a good idea if you have limited space or want a centrepiece for a large dining table.

The smell is divine. A lovely, piney aroma will permeate your home for Christmas.

Garden centers will sell them ready shaped and possibly decorated around December, but you can easily make your own.

You will need to get a rosemary shrub at some point, buy it in the Spring or take one out of your garden - make sure it's an upright one as some rosemary shrubs cascade - very pretty, but not the right material for an indoor christmas tree.

Put it in a large pot.

If you can mix the potting compost with some small vermiculite or similar, it will keep the plant well drained.

Rosemary likes water, but not to sit in. It can't 'breathe' if it's waterlogged.

A good idea is to put gravel in the base of a dish then put the pot with the rosemary christmas tree on that.

When you water, the excess will drain away.

So, when you have a rosemary shrub the size of the tree you want, trim it into a cone shape.

Just snip away, although it's a woody shrub, you can easily trim it with scissors.

I suggest you strip the leaves off the trimmings and either dry them or freeze them for culinary use.

When you have the shape you want, then you can decorate it.

Try to find some small decorations, but if you can't, then the kids can make some.

Get them to spray some small pasta bows in gold or silver, then you can tie these on with some lurex gold or silver thread.

Use some fine tinsel to drape as a garland around the tree.

If you can't find a small star for the top, then make one out of cardboard and spray it to match.

If you can't draw a star shape, then just draw two triangles and cross them in the middle to make a 6 pointed star.

After the season is over, you'll need to keep the plant indoors until the spring, when you can gradually introduce it back to outdoors.

Rosemary loves full sun, so keep it in its pot in a sunny place so that it can recuperate from its time indoors.

Next year, you can trim it back again and bring it back indoors.

For an explanation of gardening terms that you might not understand, please check out the Growers Dictionary section.
I found that I was either skimping on explanations or giving too much information on the individual pages so I have posted all relevant terms in one section - if there's anything you need to know, please drop me an email.

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