Rosemary for Remembrance
Rosemary is an attractive evergreen shrub native to southern Europe. It’s a member of the mint family, but its fragrant leaves smell almost pine-like. Rosemary displays pale mauve, blue, pink or white flowers depending on the variety.

The oil from its crushed leaves and stems has long been used medicinally. Rosemary tea was used traditionally to still the nerves and strengthen memory. In fact Rosemary has become an emblem of Remembrance in literature and ancient folklore. Greek scholars even wore rosemary in their hair to help remember their studies.

In the Middle Ages Rosemary was associated with funerals and weddings.  Brides commonly wore a Rosemary headpiece and the groom and wedding guest’s sprigs of rosemary. Newlyweds would often plant a branch of rosemary on their wedding day. If the branch grew it was a good omen for the couple. It was also believed that placing a sprig of rosemary under your pillow before going to sleep would help to ward off nightmares.

Today people wear sprigs of Rosemary on Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day to show that we have not forgotten all of the Australian servicemen and women who have given their lives in wars and conflicts in the past 100 years. Rosemary has special meaning for Australians because it is found growing wild on the Gallipoli peninsula.

Rosemary is a delicious herb commonly used in Mediterranean cuisine. It is used to flavour a variety of dishes, including soups, vegetables, meat (particularly lamb and chicken), fish, eggs, stuffing, dressings and even desserts. Nothing beats a good roast lamb infused with Rosemary!

Rosemary Varieties
Rosemary ‘Irene’:
A great landscaping plant for your garden or any commercial development. A low mounding form of trailing rosemary which is excellent as a groundcover and cascades neatly down walls and embankments. Each plant will cover an area of approx. 1.75m x 1.75m. A profuse display of flowers in mid-winter with strong blue-violet flowers which resist bleaching.
Plant Uses:
• Ground cover for low maintenance areas including public spaces
• Water wise gardens
• Spill over plant for retaining walls, embankments or balcony walls
• Hanging baskets or vertical gardens

Rosemary ‘Mozart’:
Often underrated for its ornamental value to a landscape, R. 'Mozart' is a particularly good selection offering a mass display of cool blue flowers in one of the deepest shades currently available to Australian gardeners. Endless possibilities present themselves - use individual plants for a rich splash of colour in beds or borders, en masse plantings provide a striking display without being overbearing, regular trimming can produce an attractive, informal hedge. Single specimens can also be kept clipped into topiary shapes in containers which can then be placed on paved areas and by doorways where the fragrant foliage can also impart its own charm on passers-by.
Brushing past the foliage will release a fragrance that often lingers even longer than that of lavender. (Flowers winter-spring).
Plant Uses:
Useful as a permanent structural plant for garden borders it can also be used for hedging if clipped regularly. Can easily be grown in containers for homeowners with restricted space or simply for those who like to rearrange their garden displays. Naturally a prize choice for fragrant gardens as well as the herb or kitchen garden. 
  
Common Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis):
Hardy evergreen woody perennial 1-1.5 metres tall with highly aromatic foliage used for borders, hedging, garden beds and large containers.
Plant Uses:
Add to roasts, tomato and pasta dishes, pizzas vinegars and preserves. Use dried leaves in potpourri.
Companion Planting: Said to repel mosquitos and repel cabbage white butterfly. Flowers attract pollinating bees.

Semi-prostrate Rosemary:
A compact form of rosemary just 30-40 cm tall that spills attractively over walls, embankments, rockeries and pot edges.
Plant Uses:
Add to roasts, tomato and pasta dishes, pizzas vinegars and preserves. Use dried leaves in potpourri.
Companion Planting: Said to repel mosquitoes and repel cabbage white butterfly. Flowers attract pollinating bees.

Growing Tip:
Rosemary grows readily in most well drained soils in a full sun position. A light trim after flowering along with a small application of slow release fertiliser, will be beneficial to performance and helps to maintain a neat shape. A good choice for coastal gardens
 
Propagating Rosemary:
Give Rosemary plants a light trim after flowering but don’t waste the cuttings. Use cuttings about 7-10 cm long. Get your hands on a good propagation mix, then simply strip off the bottom leaves, poke a little hole in the mix and pop the cutting in. You can use a rooting hormone if you like, but rosemary strikes fairly easily. Firm the potting mix down with your fingers and watch it take off.

Flanders Poppy
The Flanders Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is widely recognised as the flower to wear on Remembrance Day. During World War 1 the poppy was among the first plants to spring up, carpeting the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium in blood red flowers. Artillery shells, trench digging and horses hooves churned up the earth exposing the seeds to the light needed for them to germinate. In soldiers' folklore the vivid red poppy came to symbolise the sacrifice of shed blood.

Growing Flanders Poppy:
Sow seeds of Flanders Poppy around Anzac Day. The seedlings don’t generally transplant well, so sow them in a well prepared bed in a sunny position where they are to grow. Liquid feed regularly for best results.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote the now famous poem In Flanders’Fields after seeing the poppies flowering on the battlefield at Ypres in 1915.

In Flanders’ Fields
In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ Fields.