Rosemary has a reputation for being a tough, low-maintenance herb. It tolerates poor soils, hot sun, and long dry spells better than most culinary plants.

But if you’re after lush, bushy growth with soft, fragrant stems that are pleasant to harvest—you need to prune. Not aggressively, but at the right times and with the right intent.

Done well, pruning is a way of shaping how the plant grows, responds to its environment, and performs in the kitchen.

Old rosemary

Let a rosemary plant grow untrimmed, and the stems become woody and brittle, leaves thin out near the base, and the plant will start to look less like a healthy shrub.

Pruning prevents that decline. It stimulates new shoots, keeps the plant compact and full, and ensures the foliage stays soft enough to be usable.

Also, fresh rosemary for cooking comes from new growth. Once the stems harden off, they’re tough and resinous.

Good airflow is another benefit. A dense, unpruned rosemary plant can become a stagnant thicket, especially in humid climates, which increases the risk of powdery mildew. Thinning it just enough encourages better air movement and helps prevent these issues.

And if you’re also growing parsley or other herbs nearby, you might want to take a look at our quick guide on how to prune parsley the right way for bushier growth and cleaner harvests.

Harvest fresh rosemary

Rosemary’s growth slows in cool weather, and if you cut it back too late in the season, it may not have time to recover before cold sets in. That can lead to winter dieback, especially in young or container-grown plants.

  • Light Pruning:

This is the kind you do to shape the plant or harvest for the kitchen. It can be done any time and incrementally during the active growing season, typically from spring through summer. The plant rebounds quickly, and regular pinching back of tips often encourages dense, lateral branching.

  • Hard Pruning:

This is where you cut the plant back more significantly and is best done just after flowering. For most varieties, this falls in late summer or early autumn. Don’t leave it too late—once night temperatures start to dip regularly, rosemary slows down and may not regenerate fully before winter.

Important: Avoid pruning right before winter. Late cuts can expose soft new growth that hasn’t hardened off in time, leaving the plant vulnerable to frost damage.

Rosemary

There’s no strict schedule, but the general rhythm is this: light, frequent attention through the growing season, and one more deliberate shaping once a year.

A light trim every few weeks, especially if you’re already harvesting sprigs—keeps things in check. These small, frequent cuts encourage the plant to branch where you’ve pruned, and over time, this results in a fuller, more compact shape.

A deeper cut back once a year, usually after flowering. This doesn’t mean over pruning—just taking a step back and reshaping it more intentionally, removing longer or leggy shoots and opening up the structure.

And, if you’re also growing lavender, it follows a similar rhythm. Take a look at our full guide on how to prune lavender in spring and fall to keep it blooming beautifully year after year.

Cutting rosemary scissors

You don’t need fancy tools, but you do need sharp, clean blades. Dull or dirty pruners can crush stems or spread disease.

Cut just above a leaf node or branching point. This encourages the plant to send out new growth from just below the cut.

    Shape gradually. Never take off more than one-third of the plant at a time. If you’re trying to reduce size or reshape a very overgrown rosemary, do it in stages over a season or two.

      Tip: If you want to reduce the size of a particularly large rosemary plant, division is a good option instead of pruning. This divides your shrub into two or three smaller, separate shrubs.

      Remove dead or damaged material. Dry tips, broken branches, or stems that no longer produce foliage should be cut back cleanly. They’re not coming back, and they can make the plant look untidy.

        Step back and reassess. After a few cuts, assess the plant from all sides. The aim is a balanced, open structure with room for new growth, but avoiding over pruning or creating gaps.

          Rosemary
          • Pinch back the tips regularly: This diverts energy from vertical growth to lateral branching. Over time, the plant becomes dense and rounded rather than spindly.
          • Harvest correctly: It’s tempting to snip a whole branch when you need rosemary, but it’s better to harvest in small sections, spreading the pruning out across the plant. Avoid stripping any one branch bare.
          • Water deeply but infrequently: Rosemary prefers a bit of drought between waterings. Overwatering not only weakens the plant but also reduces the aromatic oil concentration in the leaves.
          potted Old Rosemary or Salvia rosmarinus aromatic evergreen herb

          Here are three common mistakes that can set a rosemary plant back:

          • Don’t cut into old, woody stems: Once a branch has turned grey and bark-like, it’s essentially a structural limb. It won’t push out new growth if you cut it back too far. Work with the green growth above it.
          • Avoid heavy pruning in cold weather: Late-season cuts can leave the plant exposed and struggling to heal before frost sets in. If you missed your window, wait until spring.
          • Never remove more than one-third of the plant at a time: Remove too much at once, and the plant may go into shock or fail to regrow properly.

          If you’re working on other pruning tasks around the same time, don’t miss our guide on how to prune tomatoes in spring for healthier plants and bigger harvests.

          cutting rosemary

          Pruning rosemary isn’t complicated, but it does benefit from a thoughtful approach. Think of it less as a single event and more as a regular practice.

          By making small, strategic cuts throughout the growing season and giving your plant one more significant shaping each year, you’ll be rewarded with a dense, fragrant, and highly usable rosemary bush. Ignore it, and it will still survive—but the result will be a woody, sparse shrub with less young, aromatic new growth.

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