Bog Rosemary Loves Wet Soil and Cold Climates

Virtues: Bog rosemary is a low evergreen shrub that can serve as a year-round foliage ground cover in cool climates and sites with poor drainage. Its pale pink spring flowers are a bonus.

Common name: Bog rosemary, marsh andromeda

Botanical name: Andromeda polifolia

Exposure: Full to part sun

Season: Year-round for foliage; spring for flowers

Flowers: Bell-like pinkish-white flowers appear along the stems in mid-spring.

Foliage: The leaves resemble those of rosemary, hence the plant’s common name. Leaves are narrow and needlelike, bluish green in color with a silvery underside. Evergreen. ‘Blue Ice’ is a variety noted for its blue leaf color.

Habit: Evergreen shrubby ground cover that can grow 8 to 30 inches tall and creeps by underground stems to form wide patches.

Origins:Andromeda polifolia is a species found in acidic bogs of roughly the northern half of North America and northern Europe and Asia.

How to grow bog rosemary: This plant requires acidic soil that remains moist to wet. It resents high heat. Note that this is a poisonous plant in all parts. USDA Zones 2–6.

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