Garden Enclosure Full of Lemon Verbena

Here you'll see our little Lemon Verbena transplants, about 10 days old, living in what was formerly an above-ground swimming pool, now our hard-working garden enclosure. 

Check out the neat, new garden gate to deter stray dogs and cats... 

How I love spending time here, where my constant co-workers are song birds and butterflies... For real!

We had to drill 3/4" holes at the base of the galvanized metal walls after our recent heavy rains.  

Even though the whole enclosure sits on about 8" of sand, 2" - 3" of standing water accumulated during one big storm, and that's not good for growing plants, even plants growing in pots. They don't like getting their feet wet!

Now the Lemon Verbena and friends are safe from another flood because the holes allowed rain to drain out when a thunderstorm dropped 1.5" a couple nights ago.

And here's one of those friendly neighbors, the lovely companions growing with our Lemon Verbena - two Cinco de Mayo rose bushes, stunning in their rust red-orange-bluish purple glory. Who wouldn't want them as neighbors!

Rob Eshman wrote the following in a post in The Jewish Journal about his introduction to Lemon Verbena while he was in Israel, where it was called Louisa.

"I looked for a year for louisa in the local nurseries, until I learned that it has a common English name, lemon verbena... 

Louisa goes dormant in the winter. Three months of the year, it looks dead. At the peak of spring, light lime-colored leaves sprout along the branches, and the plant begins a new cycle of spindly growth."

That's a good description, from my own experience in north Texas. 

And Eshman also provides his Lemon Verbena Tea recipe:

"I serve this at the end of just about every meal beginning in early summer, when our verbena plants leaf out.

12 fresh large lemon verbena leaves
1 T. sugar
4 cups boiling water

Steep leaves in boiling water.  Add sugar to taste."

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Or try some delightful

Lemon Verbena Buttermilk Ice Cream 
(with Berry Sauce!) 

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