Rosemary

Common Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

One of the many plants in the garden making the pollinators happy is a Common Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) bush in the herb plot. Now in its second year, it's currently covered with pale lavender flowers that the bees — particularly the Hairy-footed Flower Bees — seem to find irresistible. It's a plant that's well-known throughout much of the world, thanks to its long history as a cooking herb. Native to the Mediterranean region and to Asia, it was brought to the British Isles centuries ago, though whether it arrived with the Romans is open to debate. There are no reliable records of it being here until the 8th century. At that point, Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman empire, ordered that it be grown in monastic gardens and farms. It was carried to the New World by European settlers in the early 1600s, and subsequently spread across most of both North and South America. It's now found on every continent except Antarctica, as well as on many islands. It has the potential to become invasive, and is causing problems as such in Cuba.

A long-lived, woody perennial, Common Rosemary flowers primarily from June to September, though it's also known to bloom outside its main flowering season; ours started in April this year, for example. Those planted in warm climates may bloom year-round. It grows primarily in dry, sandy or rocky soils, so is finding the gritty soil of North Norfolk's glacial till quite to its liking. And fortunately, it doesn't seem to mind the occasional salty wind off the North Sea. It survives in places with mild winters, but doesn't do well if the temperatures are regularly below freezing. I guess that explains why it doesn't grow in Scandanavia!

A close-up of the flowers