Plant · P-622

Lemon Verbena

Aloysia citrodora

Crush a Lemon Verbena leaf and you get the purest lemon scent of any plant grown for it - strong enough to replace lemon zest in tea, salads, sauces and desserts fresh or dried, since the dried leaf holds its aroma for years. The same oil that gives it that scent repels flies and midges, so it is a traditional plant to grow beside a door or a garden seat. It drops all its leaves at the first freeze and looks completely dead through winter, then breaks new growth so late in spring that people often give up on it and dig it out too soon. Left alone it grows leggy and bare at the base, so regular pinching for leaf harvest is what keeps it bushy.