Anyone with rosemary in their garden urged to do 1 simple task before summer begins

Rosemary is a hardy herb that is easy to grow, but without one task it can become woody and leggy, says a gardening expert.

07:16, 11 May 2026Updated 07:52, 11 May 2026

Anyone with rosemary in their garden urged to do 1 simple task before summer begins(Image: Boy_Anupong via Getty Images)

Hardy, fragrant, and celebrated for its low-maintenance nature, rosemary is a firm favourite in gardens and on sunny windowsills. It’s little wonder that many regard it as one of the easiest herbs to cultivate.

Yet, as the years pass, even the most resilient plants can start to look tired, woody, straggly, and rather sparse in places where they ought not to be.

To prevent this from happening to your rosemary and to breathe new life into the plant, Instagram gardening expert @gardening.with.ish has offered a straightforward solution – pruning.

He captioned his Instagram video: “Rosemary, if left unkempt, can become woody and leggy and not as healthy looking as it did before. However, a simple prune in the right places and it’ll thrive and bush out – looking just as amazing as before.”

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The gardener highlighted that late spring is the “ideal time” to prune rosemary plants.

Holding a rosemary stem, the expert demonstrated the “best bit to prune”. He said, “Because you’ve got soft wood and hardwood on your rosemary, it may not be too clear.

“However, there is a very clear colour difference. The softwood cuttings are more green and a little bit more pliable, and your hardwood is brown and a little bit more solid.”

You should cut just above where the green growth finishes and the woody stems begin, ensuring you leave some green growth on each stem.

The gardener suggested that you can remove as much of the softwood from your rosemary as you like, “but never take a lot of the hardwood off”.

The gardener claimed that you can cut as much of the soft wood off of your rosemary plant(Image: Artfully79 via Getty Images)

However, if your rosemary has become particularly unruly, the likelihood is that you’ll need to remove a substantial amount, and occasionally you may have to cut into the tougher, woodier stems.

For guidance on precisely where to make your cuts in this situation, the expert advises doing so above the healthier woody stems.

In doing so, you’ll discover there’s still plenty of vitality remaining in the plant, which will carry on flourishing.

Another crucial step to bear in mind while pruning is to deal with any dead stems at the base of the plant – these are the ones that have turned slightly black and begun to rot.

The expert strongly recommends removing these dead stems entirely. Despite being tough and woody, your plant “will do better” by getting them gone.