Can 12 year old rosemary be saved?

by Renee
(Sierra Vista, AZ)

We planted a 10 trailing rosemary plants about 12 years ago. They have spread to roughly 10 x 10 ft beautiful bushes. However for the last two years they developed ugly brown woody holes in the middle or even off center. Can these bushes be saved by pruning or do I need to remove them totally?
Two months ago I removed a lot of the brown parts of one bush in the hope of reviving it. But now the rosemary looks like a hoge donut with greenery only on the outermost circle.

Doug says that if the rosemary bushes won't produce buds because the wood has matured (only producing buds on the outside) then you have some options.

Dig and replace. All bushes/plants have their lifespan.

Prune the living wood back towards the center to fill in the holes. Will take several years but generally doable. You'll wind up with a funky structure that won't take much adverse weather but you can do it.

So - my unfortunate advice is that it sounds as if the plant has reached it's ability to regenerate the way you want. That means train or replant.

If you replant - then do understand you can keep this plant growing nicely with a yearly pruning and this will make it keep producing new shoots. But everything eventually gets too old to regenerate.

Another option is to look at creative ways to prune the bushes that make an "artistic" look rather than a hedge look. But that's your gardening call there.

Good luck