Two Years Later - Lemon Verbena in 2021

 

Life has a way of throwing curve balls we have to duck and dodge sometimes, right? A late-summer insect infestation, a pandemic and a new location later, here is my tiny Lemon Verbena crop in 2021. 

It is an experiment with six plants in grow boxes out on my back patio. I didn't need to experiment with growning the plants, since Hot Springs, Arkansas is the same USDA Zone 7b as my previous location in Whitesboro, Texas. I knew the plants would grow.

My experiment is this - will the deer eat the Lemon Verbena, especially in the heat of summer when many plants have dried up?  Will the strong lemony scent deter them, or will they chomp it down anyway?

So far, all six plants appear to be untouched by the deer who are definitely stopping by at night and munching on other plants, the sweet potato vines, for example. 

I found lists of deer-resistant plants on the web, such as this list of deer-resistant herbs, which includes Lemon Verbena:

• Rosemary
• Germander
• Thyme
• Sage
• Basil
• Lemon Balm
• Lemon Grass
• Lemon Verbena
• Chives and Garlic Chives
• Mexican Oregano
• Catnip and Catmint
• Wormwood
• Yarrow
• Oregano

But, I didn't really believe it. Rosemary is so prickly it seemed unlikely to be attractive to deer. But Lemon Verbena is so attractive to me I thought deer would love it, too!

My experiment is successful so far because deer are not eating my Lemon Verbena plants. YAY!  They are avoiding the Rosemary and the Lemon Verbena.

Here's another list by the University of Arkansas, including Lemon Verbena as a perennial. Humm... it would not have survived the night we had two degrees below zero here in February 2021, that's for sure.