I've managed to kill a few of those, even got mad at the donor one year since the 'tree' died before my very eyes w/in a week (it was a corporate gift - they asked for it!).

Anyway, here's a link to a thread from the Cottage Gardening crew on this topic. Hope it helps! :o)

Here is a link that might be useful: holiday rosemary 'tree'

Thanks for the link.
Still, I'm hoping for a day or so above freezing whenever this darn rain stops and the soil dries some to put this guy in the ground.

Rosemary gets bush sized and doesn't go dormant and isn't deciduous so it ought to be outdoors. Just thinking it will need water and need gradual movement from house,to garage to screen porch to outdoors to into the soil.
Hope it works.

I have also killed quite a few. I don't think they adjust very well to our soils after being in that soiless mixture.Let us know if you have luck getting yours to survive.

From what I read these are mature plants that are hacked into a tiny Christmas tree shape and severely root pruned to fit into tiny pots. So, it is recommended that I remove it from its pot immediately and repot into something twice the size with good soil and good drainage and not let the soil dry out. I guess the hope is these pruned roots will develop smaller feeding roots and then can be planted outdoors.
Think I will try to mix some native soil with the potting soil so if it survives there's less shock in the planting out.

You could probably get away with planting at this time. I would probably winter it over in my chilly, sunny but frost free garage until spring (as my winters tend to be colder and there would not be a chance for it to root in before the possibility of really cold weather). But if I had to choose between into the ground now or inside the house, I would plant it into the ground as this is one plant that really does NOT like indoor life with us. (Also consider that some varieties are cold hardier than others.) They are quite easy outside if conditions suite it and are very drought tolerant. If you can, loosen your your clay soil up with some coarse sand.--They also would love a raised bed!

The problem isn't the plant, it's the torture its been through for the last year or so. Most likely it spent a good portion of the last six months in a greenhouse. Probably not kept hot like a tropical but not in the normal conditions that rosemary like. I would move it outside in the pot and back inside at night when the temps are gonna be below freezing. I wouldn't even try to harden it off unless you don't mind losing it. Back when I used to grow and sell plants - the beauty of rosemary was that you could snip cuttings from your garden plants in the fall; stick them in potting soil and set them aside all winter long. By spring you would have a nice healthy crop of young bushes to sell with virtually no effort.

I would shove it in a chicken, turn the oven to 325 and check it after a an hour or so. :)

That's a visual.

I got one, too, looks like it is dying already. Probably does not help that I "snack" on it at night.

It's amazing how fast it died after repotting. Gave it a large deep pot and a mix of 3/4 bagged and the rest garden topsoil. Teased the bigger roots out to spread but it just went from 1/4 dead to totally brown in less than a week.
Bummer