Dear Karana,

You have a really good problem.  Many, many rosemary plants bit the dust this year.  The plant may be a bed for an animal and that's why it is splayed.  However most animals as well as flies, mosquitoes and other insects are often repelled by the scent.

You can cut most of it way back and then trim as it grows so you develop the type of shape you want.  If you do dig it up, it can be transplanted, again, trim it way back and replant.

Rosemary is very hardy unless it's not.  I have gone through many rosemary plants, some lasting several years and then - dead.  They can be finicky. Mine usually died after severe winters.

If you decide to prune this plant, wait until it is finished blooming.  Then take a few major cuts, step back and see what it looks like, then cut again.  Check the ground to see if any of the lush green growth has rooted.  If not, you can do something called layering.  That is to scratch the branch making small cuts in a section you want to keep, powder it with the rooting hormone, then dig a small hole and bury that part that you scratched.  To keep it down, you may need some weed cloth stakes.  Cover is with compost (tamp it down) and keep it moist, do not wash away the compost or you will also wash away the rooting hormone.  This is a long term project, but what happens is the plant where scratched grows roots and you can cut off the new plant from the old branch after a few months and have another plant.  

If you decide to prune the whole plant it may take a couple of years to get it to the shape you like.  As long as you have compost added around the plant, water regularly and the soil drains well, it should continue to grow.

Take the cuttings, dip them in root hormone and repot.  You will have a lot of small plants very soon.  Keep the soil moist and the cutting covered to keep the moisture in the soil.  A plastic baggie will do.  If you decide to plant another rosemary and get rid of this big one, prune it often, not only for use in cooking but as a way of keeping the plant smaller.  

Rosemary is often used as a hedge.  Landscapers use them often as an insect repellent as well as a wind or visual block.  However, when in flower the pollinators love rosemary.

If you have further questions, please contact us again.