When and where should I prune my rosemary plant?

Question

My rosemary is young, about 15 cm tall or 6 inches. It has one main strong branch and 6 smaller branches. I live in Whistler Canada, its July, should I wait until next spring to shape it out a little? I am worried that the plant is too young to trim. Also, where on the branch should I cut? How do I get the plant to have more branches?

Thank you all for any information you post!

Answer 1

dont trim it! train it instead rosemary makes topiary. get a little trellis and wind it around or make a small grapevine ball and wind the plant around it. it will get more branches, but u should bring it in for winter

Answer 2

You can cut rosemary whenever you want..Mine grow 12 months out of the year..very hardy plants..You can cut just about an inch off of that main branch anytime and it will sprout out into 2 branches..Not overnight but it will not hurt it all..do remeber not to water too often for they do not like "wet feet"..let the soil actually dry out completely before watering again and do not totally drench it.. too much water will kill that plant more than no water at all...You can cut about half an inch off of the smaller branches if you would like to..this will make them branch out double as well..Do not worry about shaping it yet at that small a height..but a little cutting will make it bush out...wait for about the second season once it gets about 2 feet high before really trying to  get a shape out of it..You can cut this hardy plant back as much as you want after you get it a little bushy and about 2 feet tall.. Heres a picture of mine ..dont get jealous..This rosemary hedge goes for about 30 feet and reaches heighths of about 6 feet tall.....If you look to the left of the picture under the pecan tree you will see some sprigs 8 feet high....I have  a few other plants growing next to it..but this hedge also is in the front of my house..I have hedges as thick as 10 or 12 feet thick and stretches of 30 feet or more all the way around the house..this is only about 6 years of growth...It is also a plant that is happy being pot bound if you dont want it taking over this much..A single plant in a 2 foot pot will reach 4 or 5 feet high and bush out another 3 or 4 feet by staying in the pot...Make sure it has good drainage  as mentioned..It does not like water hardly at all...

I have never brought mine in for the winter, but I'm in north florida..We do get some winter to around 20 degrees this far north..and a few days in the teens..It is nothing like the Canadian winters at all..so I would bring it indoors..but you do not have to keep it too warm..A steady 35 to 40 degrees would be nice...