Rosemary is an evergreen aromatic shrub, valued for both its toughness in the garden and its usefulness as a cooking herb in the kitchen. It tolerates harsh sun and poor soil conditions and needs little water, so is ideal for a water-wise Southern California garden. Keep it to a desired size by pinching the young tips of each branch -- with your fingers, so that you smell like rosemary for hours! -- or prune older stems lightly to a side branch. It can be sheared, but I like its natural shape best.
There are a number of varieties which differ according to growth habit, leaf size, and flower color -- this one, which I think is simply plain old Rosmarinus officinalus, is about 3 to 4 feet high (1 to 1.2 m) and upright, with long, elegant needle-like leaves, pine-green on the top and silvery-white underneath, and light blue flowers. It is in another of my garden's brutal spots, a narrow bed between the house and the driveway, with the afternoon sun beating down on it.
Rosemary grows very well with lavender.
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