A happy outdoor rosemary can take hard pruning. I remove entire branches from mine to keep it under control. So you can certainly prune it back, even into old wood, unlike lavender.

Just get a good garden shearer and trim it like any shrub, to any shape you want.

I'm so glad you posted this question! Too often here I see people talk about keeping rosemary in tiny pots on their window sill - and they have no idea just how big a shrub it can become!

My rosemary would be as large as yours if I left it to its own devices. But I have a very small courtyard garden, and I have to keep chopping it back to make room for other plants. It always bounces back without blinking. Rosemary is an excellent plant for topiary, so can take quite a heavy pruning. It'll look a bit woody for a while, but it'll grow back. To be on the safe side, however, I suggest you don't remove more than, say, 30cm all over at a time. That's what I do - or rather, my gardener does - with one of those motorised hedge-trimmer things.

You're going to end up with truckloads of new plants and dried leaves if you try to save it all. I'm a great believer in giving back at least some of what you take from Nature - so use some as mulch around your plant.

Christi,
So what makes you think that an 8'x7' rosemary is a bad thing? By all means prune it, and prune it heavily. The larger branches, if relatively straight, make great shish kebab skewers for pork, chicken, pineapple. Also you can throw a few dried branches, complete with leaves on the coals for an infusion of rosemary in whatever you are grilling.
Want my recipe for panmarino (Rosemary bread)?
Rosemary is also a good deer-deterrent. It seems their delicate little deer noses don't like the scent.
At Christmas you can make a rosemary wreath--beautiful scent, and very useful after the holidays, too.
Enjoy your rosemary--just don't let it take over the garden!

So many things to do with rosemary I would be in heaven if it would winter over here. As it is I grow as an annual. But think of roasted or grilled meats or fish. Sprinkled in veggies, with olives in breads. Drool. By all means enjoy your plant. After experimenting you may find it is too small to cover all your needs.

Well if you want a lot of rosemary keep it big, If not, them simply cut down to the size you want and throw the rest away!

I'm sorry, but your rosemary can't take over the world. The snowy North will stop it cold! ;) Like maifleur, I would love to have a rosemary survive the winter but alas, such is not my case.

You can prune rosemary as you would any woody shrub or tree. I'm sure you can find info on how to do pruning on bushes to change their size or shape.

FataMorgana

I just posted a new thread on this issue, but since you all have so kindly replied to christi, I hope you dont mind me asking something related.

I can prune, no problem, but I'd prefer to dig it up and start new plants with the existing root system. Is that just a pipe dream? is it even necessary?

The growth and "sprawl" that I'm seeing with my monster, is that just simply the branches spanning out? or once they span out, do they set down roots?

thanks for your thoughts.

Rjinga, I have a very mature rosemary bush that had grown in a similar pattern to yours. I was very hesitant some years ago about doing hard pruning. I finally got the nerve cut it back hard. The plant is still with us and healthy (and has been hard pruned several more times). I have several more rosemary bushes that are babies of the original plant. When our original plant "sprawled", I looked underneath it and noticed some of the longer, lower lying branches that touched the ground had rooted themselves with no help from me at all. I carefully cut them away from the mother plant, dug them up and kept them in pots for a while to let them develop better root systems, and then transplanted them. That's how I have obtained most of my rosemary bushes although I started a couple from cuttings. Just wanted to see if I could do it. My guess about the existing root system is that you will find the main root system is one plant and I don't think you can divide it. Maybe others have more knowledge on that. I have never tried it because I know for certain our original plant was a single bush. I grew it from seed.

If you look under the sprawling branches that touch the ground, give them a little tug where they touch and you will be able to tell if they have put down roots. If yes, you have free plants :~). Hope this helps.