I would describe 'creeping' the same way as 'spreading'. A plant that just keeps on going, propagating itself as it goes. Like mint, or ivy, both of which want to conquer the world.

A protrate plant, on the other hand, will spread only as far as it wants to grow to reach mature size. Instead of growing upwards, it grows outwards - it lies down, doesn't stand up. Much better-behaved than a creeping plant!

I agree - most people don't realise just how BIG a rosemary plant can get!

I can't help with Zones. We don't use them here in Australia. Not the numbering system, anyway, and I've never mastered the concept!

USDA zones are the common use. The sunset zone, is not something I have ever seen. They also refer to the zones as 'hardness' zones. These zones define the lowest temps averaging with the number of winter months.

Sorry the USDA zones are not hardness or hardyness zones but temperature zones. Each zone has shows an average low temperature. Sunset zones do have a relationship to growing conditions however I am not up on them. For example my step daughter lives between Taos and Santa Fe, she and I are both in zone 5. Because she is 6000ft + many of the plants she can grow I can not. The reverse is true.

When I look at a plant labled creaping I am expecting it to put out additional roots to root the new foliage. A prostrate plant is as Daisy stated.

Santa Barbara may be iffy because it like cooler temperatures than the Southwest. Of course you could be in the mountains some of which provide moisture to temper the heat.

I am linking to Sunset magazines zones. So if you are interested you may learn more about them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look up sunset zones

Maifleur-

I mispelled it, and forgot the 'i' Its USDA HARDINESS ZONES as in the link below, and is the same as I originally stated..

Here is a link that might be useful: HARDINESS ZONES- USDA

I'm in the Pacific NW, and I have had a rosemary plant for 8 years which is also enormous. Last spring, I planted 2 trailing rosemary plants to cascade over a rock wall. They looked fine in the fall. But they did not survive our unusually snowy winter.
I'm not sure if my experience is typical or not. The trailing varieties are as beautiful & aromatic as the regular rosemary, but not as hardy (at least in my yard).

The Latin name for the common trailing (or creeping) rosemary is Rosmarinus officinalus 'Prostrata'. Your "Santa Barbara" rosemary is often listed as Rosmarinus lavandulaceus, which is a synonym for R.o. 'Prostrata'.

I'm pretty sure that this is one of the less hardy (cold hardy) of the rosemarys. I took a quick look around on the internet regarding the appropriate temperature zones for this particular plant and all that I saw indicated that zone 8 locations might be the lower limit.

Zone assignments on plant labels can be viewed with a little bit of caution. Many of us have long known that boundaries can be stretched quite a bit, in either direction. You may have a nice little micro-climate in your yard where this rosemary will be protected.

Thanks, everyone so much for my really '2' questions!
I think the prostrate rosemary varieties would be the ones I want to trail down over the small wall & not one that 'creeps' with roots over a larger area. The Santa Barbara one is planted in the SW facing corner of an east & south 6 ft. high block walls so gets lots of sun & hopefully winter protection. The soil in NW part of the City is almost pure sand with volcanic material from the volcanic escarpment on the west side of Albuquerque broken up in it naturally. Grows anything even without ammendments sometimes.

Question regarding the growing zones: here in Albuquerque we are in USDA zone 7 at 5200 ft. elevation in most of the NE Heights (not the Valley by the river which is lower)& thus probably would be Sunset Magazine zone 10. For me, I think by going by the USDA zones I have had very good luck in buying plants with that cold tolerance designation. Yet Roswell, New Mexico is only 3000 ft. elevation or so & is in colder USDA zone 6 ... but is in open plains so less protection I guess & thus colder zone. I really get upset when places like HomeDepot, Lowe's & others sell these beautiful plants every year that usually do have the temperature extreme requirements on the labels but most people do NOT read the label, spend a fortune on a plant only to find it did not survive the winter here.... or, I've seen some plants with nothing on the label & I know they will not survive the winter here! I guess by reading those with labels, that the temp. extremes most closely fit what would be the USDA temps. here for me.

BTW: had to spray some of the prostrate rosemary that had white stuff on it:'spittle' bugs the County Extension office said ... never heard of it before now!

Don't waste your hard working brain cells getting worked up about the 'big box stores'. They don't operate under the same set of rules that the locally owned and operated garden centers do. Just arm yourself with the best information you can BEFORE you set foot into those stores, and you'll be ok.

Last winter, while going through the checkout at one of our local Lowes', my husband heard a clerk tell a customer that she could stick her cut Fraser Fir Xmas tree in the ground after the holidays and it would grow. Sooooo wrong for so many reasons. That's one of my favorite big box stories, lol!

I've had spittle bugs on my rosemary plants, too. I used strong sprays of plain water and my hand to dislodge the darned things, and that did the trick. Only had to do it once and it took all of ten minutes or so. Just so you know that you have a good alternative.