It looks like a weed to me. I planted Garden Sage, an herb, last year and one of the seedlings turned out to be a pretty blue sage/salvia. That was from Ferry Morris seeds.

That is not Rosemary, for sure. And as far as I can tell it is not any common herb.

FYI, rosemary is difficult from seed. If you want to grow it, you would do much better growing it from a plant.

Rosemary is widely available from many herb sources , such as on the web and at local herb farms. You can even find small potted plants in the produce department of some supermarkets. If you just want a plant or two, it really isn't worth the effort to grow it from seed

I had some in a vase on the window sill for a month or longer. It rooted! Maybe someone would give you some cuttings?

Yes, it's a weed (Amaranthus spinosus maybe).
I personally don't find Rosemary difficult from seed; it's just slower than most.

Hi jaynine:

We obviously have different definitions for "difficult". It's more than just the seed germination time - which for rosemary is annoyingly long. It starts with the generally low seed viability, the long period you have to grow it before setting it out, all the care that the seedlings require after germination, etc.., etc. All that work for some plants that won't grow very big the first year and probably won't make it through the first winter anyway. That's our definition of "difficult".

Around here, if you want to have rosemary with some confidence that it will survive the winter outdoors, you can't grow it from seeds. You have to clone it from a known hardy plant or buy a named hardy variety.

Hi nickl~Yes, it's true that the defiinition of difficult is relative to the one doing the defining. Every year I fail miserably at growing Melampodium, yet others do it so effortlessly. I'm just trying not to discourage anyone who wants to try growing from seed.
You're lucky to be able to overwinter rosemary in the ground. We aren't able to here in CT...I don't think Chicago is suitable either...but we can enjoy it inside all year.
Happy Gardening,
Janine

Some gardeners just love to start from seeds. But Rosemary is easy from cuttings and a lot faster.

Another way to propagate rosemary is to take a limb that is close to the soil and bury it.

I have had a rosemary in a pot for about 4 years now (started from a plant). This spring I noticed a limb that was laying on the soil in the pot and found it "stuck" when I tried to move it. So., I gently scratched the woody branch, covered it with soil and left the leafy end to grow out. About a month ago I cut it loose from the mother plant and re-potted. I have a thriving 8" rosemary now.

As Jaynine said, yes, looks like an amaranth of some type.

Some gardeners just love to start from seeds. But Rosemary is easy from cuttings and a lot faster

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Easiest way is to buy one for a few bucks. You don't need more than one. I don't even have one. It grows everywhere as a shrub. Plus I personally do not have much culinary use for Rosemary.

Most gardeners won't mind if you snitch a little sprig of their rosemary plant and then take it home and set it in a clay pot (with drainage hole) full of sharp sand. Keep it moist while rooting, the time of which will vary according to the season. You can check for roots periodically and then plant out in your garden when well rooted. There are many different varieties of Rosemary... bushes 4' high or creepers that stay close to the ground. That's the beauty of making cuttings from known plants... you can know in advance what you are getting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

"Most gardeners won't mind if you snitch a little sprig of their rosemary...."

I disagree. I should think that any gardener would mind if you 'snitched' anything. But few would say 'no' if you asked properly.

Rosemary really is very easy from cuttings and that's the way to get an exact copy of the plant you want.