It's Spring, It's TIME for Lemon Verbena now!

It's TIME! Here are two Lemon Verbena motherplants, ready to go back out into the garden this spring, April 2015, the second year of my enthusiastic, new Lemon Verbena Life.

These motherplants overwintered in a cool (50 - 55 degrees Fahrenheit) storage area with daily light, in my studio here in north Texas. As you can see, they lost all their leaves and looked completely dead. 

But I knew better, having a world-class mentor, as well as plenty of other gardeners commenting on the web about their naked plants.

My husband bought me eleven starter plants yesterday at Hedges Florist in Whitesboro, Texas. What a thrill!  It felt like adopting eleven little children, all in one day!

The cool, overcast conditions were perfect for transplanting Lemon Verbena starts into larger pots to spread their roots and to pose for this photo:

My German mentor, Gabriele Stoll, shared the following Lemon Verbena news in a recent email.

"Today I transferred the motherplants to the greenhouse of a dutch organic gardener nearby where they have optimal growth conditions, so that I can propagate them to reach 15,000-17,000 plants. 

This year I am determined with all possible I can do to get my 2 hectar teagarden completely cultivated and successfully harvested." 

Gabriele's advice regarding use of Lemon Verbena as herb tea may surprise you, "Harvest the whole leaves, so the plant retains all the wonderful lemon flavor. You have to take only two leaves for a cup of tea. With chopped or ground leaves, the efficiency is much lower."

The secret of lemony delicious Lemon Verbena tea is to USE WHOLE LEAVES. Home gardeners can achieve this delicacy, but it's much more difficult if you're shopping for the herb in a store, or buying it online. There's really no comparison between whole leaf and the crumbled or chopped product available commercially in box, bags and loose canisters.

It's tea time!