{"id":2621,"date":"2019-01-18T13:45:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T21:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2621"},"modified":"2019-01-18T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T21:49:00","slug":"lemon-lift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/lemon-lift\/","title":{"rendered":"Lemon Lift"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lemon<\/a>At this time of the year, I long for good scents.\u00a0 The evocative holiday aromas\u2014evergreens, baked goods, mulled cider\u2014are gone with the decorations.\u00a0 All we have left are the unique olfactory signatures of things like wet wool, musty basements and, for pet owners, damp dogs.\u00a0 It is depressing.<\/p>\n

It would be so much better to catch the scent of lemon verbena, and I have given myself repeated mental kicks for not thinking of about the plant sooner.\u00a0 If I had purchased even a single lemon verbena or Aloysia citriodora, last spring or summer, I would be able to catch regular whiffs of the plant\u2019s unique, sweet-citrus fragrance every day.\u00a0 My annual case of the January doldrums would have been thwarted, and I would have more energy to do important winter tasks like cleaning out my basement.\u00a0 When spring rolls around, I will be smarter.<\/p>\n

Lemon verbena, which is sometimes known as vervane, verveine, or even \u201clemon beebrush\u201d, is a South American subtropical shrub that is only hardy to USDA plant hardiness Zone 8.\u00a0 This means that if you live in a place where winter temperatures fall below freezing, the plants won\u2019t survive outdoors.\u00a0 Fortunately, lemon verbena is easily grown in containers and can spend the cold months lifting your spirits from a sunny corner of your home.<\/p>\n

The botanical world is home to lots of lemon-scented plants, including varieties of geranium, mint, thyme and other herbs.\u00a0 Lemon verbena, which grows two to four feet tall and wide in captivity, features long, lance-shaped green leaves that smell strongly of lemon.\u00a0 I think the fragrance is sweeter and more perfume-y than lemon balm or lemon-scented geranium.\u00a0 It is also more pervasive and persists strongly in the dried leaves.\u00a0 This makes lemon verbena a double threat\u2014wonderful on the plant and equally valuable in potpourri or steeped into a tea.<\/p>\n

Spanish explorers first discovered lemon verbena in the 17th<\/sup> century, while making their way through South America.\u00a0 They shipped seeds or cuttings back to Spain, where the plant won admirers and caught on.\u00a0 By the following century, it had found a comfortable home in England as well.\u00a0 Eventually the plant acquired the genus name \u201caloysia\u201d, which honors a late eighteenth-early nineteenth century noblewoman, Maria Louisa, who was married to King Carlos IV of Spain.<\/p>\n

All those royal associations did not keep common people in warm winter areas from growing lemon verbena in their gardens.\u00a0 Without the interference of cold temperatures, the plants can grow up to 15 feet tall, providing bumper crops of scented leaves for all kinds of purposes.<\/p>\n

Over the centuries, lemon verbena has been used as a culinary, cosmetic and healing herb.\u00a0 Its lemony scent and flavor have made it especially popular in desserts and teas, while its healing properties have been used against complaints including colds, fevers and gastrointestinal ailments.<\/p>\n

In our time, most gardeners cultivate lemon verbena for its attractive green leaves and fragrance.\u00a0 Grown outside, it is also decorative and may produce small, whitish-purple flowers with a sweet scent.\u00a0 Whether potted or grown in-ground, the plants appreciate a sunny spot and well-drained soil with regular moisture.\u00a0 The leaves are the most aromatic at flowering time, but to harvest them you might have to joust with the attentive bees that frequent the blooms.<\/p>\n

Lemon verbena is part of the same Verbenaceae family as decorative garden favorites like Verbena bonariensis.\u00a0 It works well in mixed, annual-perennial-shrub borders or herb gardens.\u00a0 To maximize its fragrant effect, plant it near areas where people either pass or congregate.<\/p>\n

If you buy a lemon verbena plant, trim the stems back regularly to harvest the leaves and keep the plant relatively compact.\u00a0 Verbenas love to summer outside, but if you give your plant that kind of vacation, be sure to bring it into the house when fall temperatures start dropping into the fifties at night.\u00a0 During the first few weeks of housebound existence, the verbena will probably drop leaves in protest.\u00a0 Do not lose control and fling the container out for bulk pick-up.\u00a0 Once it gets over the shock, it will regrow new, scented leaves.<\/p>\n

This spring I will atone for earlier sins of omission and purchase a lemon verbena.\u00a0 Many well-stocked local nurseries and garden centers carry the plants.\u00a0 You can also order from online vendors, including White Flower Farm, P.O. Box 50, Route 63 Litchfield, Connecticut 06759; (800) 503-9624; www.whiteflowerfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Free print catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this time of the year, I long for good scents.\u00a0 The evocative holiday aromas\u2014evergreens, baked goods, mulled cider\u2014are gone with the decorations.\u00a0 All we have left are the unique olfactory signatures of things like wet wool, musty basements and, for pet owners, damp dogs.\u00a0 It is depressing. It would be so much better to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[2028,2027,2031,2032,827,2034,2033,2029,2030],"class_list":["post-2621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-aloysia-citriodora","tag-lemon-balm","tag-lemon-beebrush","tag-lemon-herbs","tag-pollinator-plants","tag-tropical-verbenas","tag-verbena-family","tag-vervane","tag-verveine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2623,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2621\/revisions\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}