Why can't I grow rosemary?

[helpimitchy]

All my rosemary plants keep dying. I've been trying to grow them for years.

The leaves turn yellow, drop off and the plant looks awful and I end up by throwing it out.

I've tried sunny positions, shaded, partial shade, in pots, in the garden, plenty of water, not so much water, dry. I've tried looking after them and neglecting them. South facing garden and a northwest garden.

They all die!

What am I doing wrong?

It's personal. I cannot keep an orchid.They hate me.

I can't grow many things. But my rosemary is quite happy. It doesn't get much attention at all. All I can tell you is that it is a SW facing garden in West London and it is in a raised bed of brick and it is surrounded by shingle (previous owners doing). It gets the odd bit of worm wee but on the whole left to its own devices. Can you glean any useful information from.that?

Stick it on a big pot & ignore it-if you've had it out back put it out front. Like pp says, It is personal sometimes!

I've got a very vigorous rosemary bush in very similar conditions to cents. South west facing, raised bed, totally neglected.

Me too
We've got 3 rosemary plants and they're not thriving, no idea why

How long since you planted them? I've planted two- both looked really poorly the first year then just took off.

Dear god I have no idea because I literally can't get rid of mine. Had one, it was fine, we cook a lot from scratch so quite useful but when it gets out of control and we cut it back hard it just makes it come back bigger next time. There now seems to be a satellite plant popped up nearby that I certainly haven't planted. South facing sun trap. Are you possibly not neglecting it enough IYSWIM?

Free draining soil - so if you have heavy soil add plenty of grit/gravel.

Same if planted in a pot - big drainage holes cover with a few broke pieces of crock to stop holes getting blocked, mix compost with gravel/grit/sand. When watering soak throw occasionally rather that little and often.

Possibly overwatering - they like to be a bit dry and neglected IME

In my old house I couldn't grow rosemary despite it being perfect conditions for it on paper, and it turned out my next door neighbour who was a professional gardener couldn't either, so we reckoned it must be something in the local environment rather than us doing it wrong.

It prefers dry conditions & poor soil - it does really well in places like the hills of southern Spain

I've got some in pots. It's not thriving exactly but surviving. I did add sand to the compost. There's a house near us with a huge bush growing in the garden & the local soil has quite a bit of clay, I don't know if they added sand. (We cut sprigs off theirs under cover of darkness sometimes when we forgot to buy any & mine is struggling )

Here's a very long explanation about yellowing

I inherited a massive rosemary plant with my garden. I've ignored it for two years apart from chopping bits off for dinner as required and it just thrives. I can't remember what type of soil it is we have but it's the sort that rhododendrons and azaleas really thrive in as well.

Mine all die too. Rosemary is my nemesis.

I'm going to guess your problem is soil issues - I live in an area with very poor, chalky soil (think big lumps of chalk and flint all over the place) that drains almost instantly. Rosemary grows like a weed round here!

I wonder if it's too cold up here for them (NE).

I've tried them in a dry, south facing garden, but they still went yellow. I generally give them a couple of years then give up.

live in an area with very poor, chalky soil (think big lumps of chalk and flint all over the place) that drains almost instantly. Rosemary grows like a weed round here!

Same here, though I did have a well-established bush of it die a couple of years ago. Planted a replacement last year and am now ignoring it, which usually seems to work well.

Poor chalky clay soil here too, mine is the biggest, strongest shrub in my garden. Every couple of years I have to chop off several bin bags worth to keep it in check.