With its aromatic, edible leaves and airy white flowers, lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) adds value to the kitchen gardens and ornamental, low-water landscaping. It thrives within U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 to 10, where it rises as an herbaceous perennial in frost-free areas. Once established, lemon verbena demands small hands apart from routine watering and yearly pruning. But it has to be implanted at the right website and in the right time of year to appear and bloom its very best.
Plant lemon verbena in mid-autumn after the first seasonal rainfall. Place the potted plant outdoors for many days before transplanting to acclimate it to regular temperature and light conditions.
Prepare a bed to your lemon verbena plant. Choose a website in full sunlight with lighting, fast-draining soil. Eliminate all weeds, stones and debris from the soil. Avoid planting in sites with sluggish drainage and heavy colour.
Spread a 3-inch-thick layer of compost and coarse sand over the planting website if the soil is clay-based or compacted. Work the amendments to the top 10 inches of soil using a rotary tiller or cultivating fork.
Water the bed thoroughly the day prior to planting the lemon verbena. Spray the bed with a garden hose until the soil feels quite moist in the top 5 inches. Let the water soak in immediately to settle the soil.
Dig a planting hole for every lemon verbena. Make the holes twice the diameter and 1/4-inch shallower compared to the nursery containers. Roughen the inside of the holes to earn root penetration simpler. Space multiple holes at least 2 feet apart.
Eliminate the lemon verbena from the original nursery container. Gently tease apart the outside of the root ball to loosen the roots. Hold the root ball in the hole so the base of the main stem is 1/4 inch above the surrounding soil.
Gradually backfill around the root ball with the loosened, amended soil. Keep adding soil until the roots are completely sealed and the hole is full. Gently firm the soil until the base of the plant is level with the surrounding soil.
Water that the lemon verbena to a 5-inch thickness immediately after putting it. Withhold supplementary irrigation after the first watering unless no rain falls for longer than 2 weeks, then water into a 3-inch thickness.
Expand a 1-inch-thick layer of lightweight mulch around the base of the lemon verbena to keep the soil cool and moist. Leave a 1-inch gap between the mulch and the base of the stalks.