Appreciation post for the lady at the plant swap who corrected my pruning technique

I was butchering my rosemary bush for 2 years until she showed me to cut above the leaf node and now it's actually bushy instead of leggy, so has anyone else had a random stranger fix a gardening mistake you'd been making forever?

2 comments

2 Comments

kimreed17d ago

Hold on, I actually think you were probably fine before. Rosemary is tough enough that it doesn't really care that much about perfect pruning. Cutting it anywhere near a leaf node is plenty, and even if you hack it back a bit it usually bounces right back. I've seen people chop their rosemary down to sticks and it grows back bushier than ever just from the shock. So I wouldnt stress too much over their advice, your plant was probably doing just fine with your old method.

grant.nina17d ago

Heard something similar with my mint plant once. This old guy at the garden center told me to always cut above a leaf node and I was doing it all wrong before. But honestly my mint was fine either way, it just grows like a weed no matter what you do. Rosemary's probably the same way, they're tough little guys.