Rosemary and roses provide mesmerizing scent and structure to a garden, but they must be properly pruned or they become unwieldy.
Scent is powerful—often even more so than sight—especially when it comes to memory. A fragrance can linger in your mind long after a visual fades. Think about the comforting smell of a loved one, or the aroma of a home-cooked meal waiting for you after school. Gardens work the same way. A thoughtfully designed space filled with gardenias, roses, jasmine, or wisteria can leave a lasting impression for years to come.
That’s why one of my favorite design principles is to create gardens that immerse you in fragrance from the very first step inside. As an added bonus, highly scented gardens tend to be naturally deer-resistant—our four-legged grazers usually avoid plants with strong aromas.
Both rosemary & Knockout roses fill a garden with beautiful scent but their growth must be managed.
Two of my go-to, easy-care fragrant plants are rosemary and Knockout roses. Surprisingly, though, many clients push back on these suggestions. The reason? They’ve had bad experiences. Left unpruned, both plants can quickly become overgrown—leggy, tangled, and overwhelming. Instead of enhancing a space, they take it over and look mangy to boot.
When I hear this, I ask a simple question: “Did you prune them?” The answer is almost always no.
Here’s the truth: rosemary and Knockout roses are incredibly hardy. They thrive in tough conditions—but without regular pruning, they will absolutely run wild.
For rosemary, the key is a firm hand. After it flowers in late spring or early summer, give it a good, decisive trim. Don’t be timid— pruning knockout roses can be done with shears or hedge trimmers into a neat globe, a hedge, or whatever suits your design. Treat it like boxwood. Regular pruning encourages dense, bushy growth and tender new shoots, perfect for cooking. In fact, everything you cut can go straight to the kitchen.
Knockout roses benefit from the same kind of discipline. In late winter or early spring, cut them back about a third of their height. It might feel drastic, but this encourages strong, vigorous, and compact growth throughout the season.
With just a bit of consistent care, these two plants transform from unruly giants into reliable, beautiful features. Follow these simple practices for pruning Knockout roses and rosemary, and they will reward you with structure, fragrance, and year-round appeal—without the chaos.