(Cymbopogon flexuosus ‘Lemongrass')
Lemongrass is a frost-tender clumping perennial herb that is native to India and southeast Asia but can be commonly found growing in gardens throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 2-3' and features long, aromatic, long lance-shaped, arching green leaves. This plant can be grown in a container, is used to flavor perfume, is used to make insecticides, repels mosquitoes, and is both edible and medicinal!
Genus: Cymbopogon
Species: flexuosus
Variety: Lemongrass
Also Known As: Cochin grass or Malabar grass.
Native to: Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya.
Introduced into: Andaman Is., Bahamas, China South-Central, Egypt, Florida, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malaya, Mauritius, New Guinea, Seychelles, Sumatera.
Grown as: Tender Perennial/Annual
Maturity: 100 days
Outdoor Growing Temp: 40°F - 100°F+. Ideal: 85°F
Start Indoors: Yes
Start Outdoors: Yes
Light: Full Sun. Pick a location where your lemongrass will receive direct sun all day. If this is not possible, plant it where it will get at least 6 hours of direct sun per day. When lemon grass gets too much shade, it may attract pests.
Water: Medium. Lemongrass is not drought-tolerant so keep the roots constantly moist for best plant health.
Soil Moisture: Medium. Use a 3" layer of mulch to help conserve moisture.
Maintenance: Low
Beneficial Insects?: No. Although lemon grass is helpful in repelling some pests, its doesn't really attract any beneficial insects.
Containers?: Yes. A Lemongrass plant needs a 5 gallon or larger container so it will have room to grow and so it can be moved indoors during winter. It is a tropical perennial grown as an annual in most parts of the United States. It is not tolerant of frost and any heavy frost will kill it.
Height: 36-60"
Spacing: 36-48”
Sow Depth: 1/8"
USDA Zone: Annual: 2-9
Perennial: 10-12
Produces: long, aromatic, long lance-shaped, arching green leaves.
Garden Uses: Herb gardens, Rain gardens.
Lemongrass is harvested for both the stalk and foliage. Begin harvesting your lemongrass when the plant reaches 12" in height or when the stalks are at least 1/4" thick. This can be done by breaking, cutting, or twisting off stalk as close to ground as you can due to the bottom of the stalk being where the most tender part is located. Cut, twist or break off a stalk that is at least 1/4 inch thick. You can begin removing the woody outer portion and the leaves of the stalks once you harvested the amount of lemongrass you need for the day. Now simply slice stalk where it is tender it is ready to be added to your recipes.
Annual Harvesting:
Lemongrass will need to be completely harvested in fall before the first frost in colder regions. Simply remove the foliage of the stalks and then break, twist, or cut them off. Be sure to compost the leaves, roots, and any discolored portions.
Companion Planting
Problems
Spider mites
To attract Minute Pirate Bugs to your garden you will need to grow: Caraway (Carum carvi), Cosmos “white sensation” (Cosmos bipinnatus), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Spearmint (Mentha spicata), Peter Pan Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), and Marigold “lemon gem” (Tagetes tenuifolia).
Big-eyed Bugs: Preys on Aphids, small Caterpillars and Caterpillar eggs, Flea beetles, Fleahoppers, Lygus bugs, Mites, Thrips, Whiteflies.
To attract Big-Eyed Bugs to your garden you will need to grow: Caraway (Carum carvi), Cosmos “white sensation” (Cosmos bipinnatus), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Spearmint (Mentha spicata), Peter Pan Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), and Marigold “lemon gem” (Tagetes tenuifolia).
Lacewings: Green lacewings are common generalist predators that feed on aphids. Brown lacewings are slightly smaller. Some species of adult lacewings are predaceous while the larvae are very active predators that feed on soft-bodied prey such as mites, aphids, leafhoppers, thrips, whiteflies, and pest eggs. Lacewings in nearly all life stages are commercially available.
To attract Lacewings to your garden you will need to grow: Fern-leaf yarrow (Achillea filipendulina), Dill (Anethum graveolens), Angelica (Angelica gigas), Golden marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria), Four-wing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata), Caraway (Carum carvi), Coriander (Coriandrum sativum),
Cosmos white sensation (Cosmos bipinnatus), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Prairie sunflower (Helianthus maximilianii), Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
Suggested Varieties
(Angelica atropurpurea ‘American')
American Angelica is a native perennial herb that grows in swampy areas and along rivers and streams throughout the northeastern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 3-10' and features dark purple stems, green oval, toothed, compound leaves, and large compound umbels of greenish-white to white flowers. This plant attracts bees, butterflies, lacewings, ladybugs, and parasitic wasps, tolerates deer, and is edible and medicinal!
(Carum carvi ‘Caraway')
Caraway is a biennial herb that is native to Europe and Asia but can be commonly found growing in meadows, prairies, and along roadsides throughout the northern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 12-18” and features feathery fronds and umbrella shaped clusters of tiny white flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, damsel bugs, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, and predatory wasps, and is also both edible and medicinal!
(Cosmos sulphureus ‘Bright Lights’)
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Bright Lights Cosmos Mix is an annual warm-weather flower native to Mexico but can commonly be found growing in fallow fields and along roadsides and railroads throughout the southern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 1-3' and features narrowly divided, slightly hairy green foliage and 2-3” yellow, orange, or red semi-double flowers with scallop-edged petals and yellow centers. This plant attracts bees, birds, butterflies, ladybugs, pollinating moths, and predatory wasps, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Candy Stripe’)
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Candy Stripe Cosmos is an annual warm-weather flower that is native to Mexico but can commonly be found growing throughout the southern and northeastern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 3-6' and features finely divided, feathery-green foliage and white petaled with pink edged flowers with yellow centers. This plant attracts bees, birds, butterflies, ladybugs, pollinating moths, and predatory wasps, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Radiance’)
Radiance Cosmos is an annual warm-weather flower native to Mexico but can commonly be found growing along roadsides and railroads throughout the southern and northeastern United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 3-6' and features finely divided, feathery green foliage and 2-3” flowers with yellow centers and scallop-edged petals of medium pink that darken too bright pink or fuchsia at the center. This plant attracts bees, birds, butterflies, ladybugs, pollinating moths, and predatory wasps, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Anethum graveolens ‘Dukat')
Dukat Dill is an annual herb that is native to the Mediterranean and Asia but can be commonly found growing throughout the Midwest, northeastern, and west coast of the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 3-5' and features stiff hollow stems, sweet-scented, bluish-green, feathery foliage, and compound 10” umbrella-shaped umbels that are topped by yellow aromatic flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, predatory wasps, and tachinid flies, repels aphids, spider mites, and squash bugs, is rabbit safe, tolerates deer, its leaves are used as an insect repellent, tolerates drought and light frost, is used to flavor soaps, is used to make insecticides, is both edible and medicinal and self-sows!
(Foeniculum vulgare ‘Florence')
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Florence Fennel is a perennial herb that is native to the Mediterranean but can be commonly found growing throughout most of the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 3-5' and features a rounded, branching, celery-like stalk, yellowish-green, feathery foliage and umbrella shaped heads of tiny yellow flowers. This plant attracts bees, butterflies, damsel bugs, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybugs, and predatory wasps, tolerates deer, is used to flavor air fresheners, perfumes, soaps, and toothpaste, the leaves are used to repel insects, tolerates drought and light frost, is used to make dyes, is both edible and medicinal, and self sows!
(Mentha spicata ‘Spear’)
Spearmint is a perennial herb that is a native from Europe and China but can be commonly found growing in wetlands and along streams throughout most of the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 24-36” and features erect, hairy stems, 3” aromatic, oval-shaped, sharply toothed pointed leaves and 4” tapering terminal spikes that bare pale purple or pink flowers. This plant can be grown in containers, attracts bees, butterflies, and damsel bugs, repels ants, aphids, cabbage loopers, flea beetles, mice, squash bugs, and white flies, is resistant to deer and rabbits, is used to make essential oils and potpourri, its leaves are used to repel rodents, is used to flavor toothpaste, is both edible and medicinal, and self sows!
(Callirhoe involucrata ‘Purple’)
Purple Poppy Mallow is a native perennial flower that grows in dry, rocky soils of the central United States. At maturity, this plant reaches a height of 8-12” and features upward-facing cup-shaped, poppy-like five-petaled magenta flowers. This plant can be grown in a container or hanging basket, attracts bees, butterflies, hoverflies, lacewing, and predatory wasps, is resistant to deer and rabbits, is edible and medicinal, tolerates drought, self-sows, and is used as a cut flower!
(Achillea millefolium 'Rubra')
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Red Yarrow is a native mat-forming perennial that can be commonly found growing along roadways and in fields and lawns throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 1-2' and features erect stems, medium green fern-like foliage, and clusters of red flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, hoverflies, ladybugs, and predatory wasps, is rabbit safe, repels beetles, and flies, the leaves are burned to repel mosquitoes, is used as a compost activator, tolerates drought, is used to make cosmetic cleansers, dye, essential oil, and liquid plant food, self sows, is both edible and medicinal, and is great as a cut flower!
(Achillea millefolium 'White')
White Yarrow is a native mat-forming perennial that can be commonly found growing along roadways and in fields and lawns throughout the United States. At maturity, this plant reaches the height of 12-18” and features erect stems, medium green fern-like foliage, and clusters of white flowers. This plant can be grown in a container, attracts bees, butterflies, hoverflies, ladybugs, and predatory wasps, is rabbit safe, repels beetles, and flies, the leaves are burned to repel mosquitoes, is used as a compost activator, tolerates drought, is used to make cosmetic cleansers, dye, essential oil, and liquid plant food, self sows, is both edible and medicinal, and is great as a cut flower!