What type of rosemary is that?
It looks kind of leggy to me.....my Pineapple sage plants looked exactly like that last year around this time. I bought them on clearance ( orphaned) by one of the local greenhouses.

My uncle assured me if I cut the plant back to one main stem, that it would then take stress off the plant, and it would branch out and become a full beautiful plant.
It was super duper hard to vut all those branches off.....but I did.
In about a month I was rewarded with a big bushy plant...and several cuttings.
Bu the end of the season I had a MONSTER sized pineapple sage.

I don't know if that would work for a rosemary or not....it does seem to be very stressed out however.
Perhaps if buying a new one isn't a big deal....trying that method wouldn't be a bad idea...and then using the branches you cut off to root into new plants.
Never hurts to try....if you're not successful, you can buy a new one that is a little better off health wise.

I'd worry about watering it every other day. I understand your concerns about having it dry out, but watering that often is probably too frequent.

I don't want to scare you, but it's possible that it's too late for this rosemary. Rosemary plants can develop problems that leave them dying a slow death, at a time when it's been too late for months.

My best suggestion would be to cut back on the watering if you can, and hope for the best. Perhaps someone else will have better suggestions for you.

Good luck.

To me, it looks like a poor excuse for tarragon. Rosemary leaves are usually thicker, almost like Christmas tree needles. Your might be dieing due to age. It may also need some mild fertilizer.

I don't remember what kind of rosemary this is but great flavor in my BBQ marinades.I picked this up from a nursery about a month ago. I'll try cutting it back and watering less and hope for the best. Or I'll head back to the nursery and ask the caretaker for advice. I'll let you know if I get any good reviving tips. Thx!

Your plant looks like rosemary to me. Could possibly use a little more direct sun light. Some of ours that are in partial shade get a little thin and leggy like yours. Taking cuttings help them fill out.

You mentioned having a drainage hole in the container. Is the container sitting in a saucer? The browning at the base could be caused by roots sitting in water logged soil. For sure try letting the soil dry out between watering. I have killed more plants with "kindness" (water and fertilizer) than I like to admit :~).

I have to second the "needs more sun" idea. It likes lots of sun, and not so much water. Unfortunately, my experience has been, when the bottom looks like that, the rest is following shortly. BUT, don't count me as an expert. I've had 4 rosemarys in 7 years.

If it were mine I would stop watering it so often, put it out in the sun and reduce all the stems by half. (Use the prunings for cooking or cuttings.) In fact, since you are in zone 8 I'd do all that and plant it out in the garden. My garden rosemary is about 17 years old but I find pot growing much more difficult.

Hello there all, new member here!

I absolutely LOVE rosemary, but being in zone 3b is there ANY way I will be able to keep it from dying over winter? I have been through one nursery plant and one self started plant in the same season. The nursery plant I left outside, while the one I seeded myself died in the house. I would really appreciate any advice from anyone who has had success in a similar hardiness zone.

Thanks

scrublins, in your zone you'll need to bring rosemary indoors over the Winter if you want it to survive.

I won't kid you...keeping a rosemary alive indoors through the Winter is a daunting task. I finally managed it for the first time this past Winter, after many years of trying, though my plant was looking pretty sad by the end of it. If you use the search engine for this forum, you'll find lots of advice on how to best do it, but still, it's hard.

My best advice is to just learn all you can about how to over-Winter rosemary, and follow the advice to the best of your ability, and keep trying. Good luck.

For the dying rosemary - I concur with the previous posters who recommend more sun. I had an indoor rosemary that looked nearly as peaked as your pictures, while my outdoor rosemary was quite robust. I moved my sickly-looking rosemary outdoors to our deck about 2 weeks ago and it has vastly improved. It is in a hot sunny location, and even outdoors (in a pot), I've cut back its water to 1-2 times a week. I have learned my lesson and will now leave the rosemary outside year-round, and just give it a little protection during the winter.

Thank you for your advice leira.

Unfortunately it sounds like I may be in for a battle, but I am going to give it my best shot. There is just nothing like fresh rosemary and roasted potatoes!!

I've had great success rooting cuttings from sprigs of rosemary purchased from the grocery store. It's an inexpensive way to have your rosemary and eat it too, lol...

Here's how:

Buy a bunch of cut rosemary. Cut off 1-2" of the tops. Cut where the stem transitions from supple green to woody.

Dip the cut ends into some hormone rooting powder. There are many different brands, inexpensive and widely available at your nursery:

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Stick the cut ends into a pot of well-wetted potting soil. (I usually put six or eight to a pot; wet the soil BEFORE you put the cuttings in.) Put the pot in the sun and keep the soil well-dampened but not soaked.

Your cuttings will root. As they do, lessen the watering. Remember, rosemary is native to hot, dry climates.

In the meantime, use the rest of your rosemary sprigs for cooking.

Yum.

I am having a similar problem with one of my two rosemary bushes that are planted outside. The bushes were here(outside) when we purchased the house and are rather large. One gets a full day's worth of sunlight and looks as if it's turning brown from the bottom to the top, but not all of the branches are brown and dried. The bush that is in the shade is beautiful. I don't know much about plants, but we're in a drought, so I'm thinking I should water the brown one a couple of times a week, trim it and possibly cut off the totally brown branches. Can anyone confirm that this would be a good course of action? We've been having heat in the mid to upper 90s lately, but it's very humid, too...