Herbperennial herbDemanding

Lemon verbena

Aloysia citrodora

The strongest lemon flavour of any herb that will grow here, and a deciduous shrub rather than a herb in habit. It loses every leaf in autumn and looks dead until May, which is why so many are thrown away in March by people who assume they have killed it.

Position: Full sun
Water: low demand
Drainage: Free-draining
Grows to: 100–200 cm × 100–150 cm
Hardiness: H3
Harvest: June to September
Difficulty: Demanding

August

Harvest

Lemon verbena’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	M	J	J	A	S	N	D
Plant	May.	June.
Harvest		June.	July.	August.	September.
Prune	May.
Protect						November.	December.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

What kind of herb this is

Herbs are a kitchen grouping rather than a botanical one, and the plants in it want opposite things. This is the one distinction that decides how to treat it.

Tropical, frost-tender herb

Growing regime

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — growing

Checked 2026-08-13

Frost kills it outright. It has to come inside for winter or be treated as an annual, and the indoor months are survival rather than growth.

Treated the same way: curry leaf, lemongrass, vietnamese coriander. The herb bed, split by regime

Indoors: Indoors to survive winter

Where the indoor assessment comes from

IndoorsSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — growing indoors
Checked 2026-08-13

Almost any herb will sit on a windowsill in July. This is about whether it is still there in March, which is the part a pot on a supermarket shelf does not tell you.

What happens when it flowers

On a herb this is rarely a problem and rarely nothing. It is the point at which the plant stops being what you grew it for — by a lot, a little, or not at all.

No real effect on the leaves

source

Sourced guidancehigh confidence

Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — harvesting

Checked 2026-08-13

Nothing to do about it. Flowering does not change what lemon verbena is worth picking, so there is no reason to prevent it.

Conditions it needs

Light: Full sun
Frost: Half hardy
Hardiness rating: H3 (RHS)
Grows best at: 15–28 °C
Soil: Sandy, Loam
Soil pH: 6–7.5
Drainage: Free-draining
Water needs: low
Drought: moderate tolerance
Waterlogging: poor tolerance
Heat: good tolerance
Wind and exposure: poor tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — position
Checked 2026-08-13
FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings
Checked 2026-08-13
Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Aloysia citrodora — culture
Checked 2026-08-13
DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Works, with one condition	Lemon verbena will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Sandy	Prefers this soil	Sandy suits Lemon verbena as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting.
Chalky and alkaline	Grows well here	Lemon verbena grows perfectly well on chalky and alkaline without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose.
Loam	Prefers this soil	Loam suits Lemon verbena as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Silty	Prefers this soil	Silty suits Lemon verbena as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acid	Works, with one condition	Lemon verbena will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rock	Prefers this soil	Shallow over rock suits Lemon verbena as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting.
Made ground and urban soil	Works, with one condition	Lemon verbena will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 100–200 cm
Mature spread: 100–150 cm
Rooting depth: 50 cm
Spacing: 100–150 cm apart

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Lemon verbena — spacing
Checked 2026-08-13

Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume: 20 litres or more
Minimum depth: 35 cm

Where the container figures come from

Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

Almost always grown in a pot so it can be moved somewhere frost-free, and the pot is also what makes its winter dormancy manageable — a deciduous shrub that looks dead from November to May is much less alarming when it is standing in a shed on purpose. Keep it nearly dry over winter.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Container	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	20 litres; Somewhere frost-free for winter
Greenhouse	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Open ground	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	Only against a warm wall in the mildest areas, and with the roots protected.
Traditional dug bed	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Raised bed	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Polytunnel	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Cold frame	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Windowsill	Workable source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing herbs and salads indoors Checked 2026-08-13
Hydroponics	Marginal source GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence A deciduous tender shrub that drops every leaf and needs a dry dormant rest. A system that keeps its roots wet through that period rots it. GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

ProtectionMove the pot somewhere frost-free and keep it nearly dry over winter — it is dormant and leafless, and watering a dormant lemon verbena is the commonest way to lose one. Do not write it off until June.
PruningCut back by about a third once new leaves are actually showing in late spring, never before. Lemon verbena breaks from old wood readily, so a leggy plant can be brought back — but only after you can see where the live wood ends.
WateringWater freely while it is in full leaf through the summer, then reduce sharply as the leaves drop in autumn and keep it almost dry through the winter. This is the plant's whole watering story: lemon verbena is deciduous, it looks completely dead from November until May, and a dormant plant given normal watering rots at the root. Resume only when new buds break in late spring.
FeedingA balanced liquid feed every few weeks from late spring until midsummer supports the leafy growth that is the crop, in a plant almost always grown in a pot. Stop by August: soft late growth is exactly what the first frost destroys, and a plant carrying it comes through the winter less well.
HarvestingPick leaves from June until they fall in autumn, taking whole shoot tips so the plant stays bushy. This is the herb most worth drying — the lemon scent survives drying better than any other, so the autumn leaf fall is a harvest rather than a loss. Strip the leaves as they drop and dry them somewhere warm and airy.
PropagationTake soft tip cuttings in early summer, about 8 cm long, and root them in gritty compost under cover; they take readily and root within a few weeks. Worth doing every couple of years as insurance, because lemon verbena is the herb here most likely to be lost over a bad winter.

Where this guidance comes from

ProtectionSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia citrodora — care
Checked 2026-08-13
PruningSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia citrodora — pruning
Checked 2026-08-13
WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
FeedingSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia — cultivation
Checked 2026-08-13
HarvestingSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13
PropagationSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia — propagation
Checked 2026-08-13

The bud you cut to becomes the new shoot, and it grows in the direction it points — which is why an outward-facing bud opens the plant up and an inward-facing one crosses the middle.

The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

Is it worth putting under cover?

Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.

On a windowsill

Overwinters indoors, crops outdoors

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

How long the crop is actually productive on an ordinary British windowsill without added light.

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

Brought inside to get through the frosts rather than to crop. It should go back outside in spring, and it will not give a useful harvest on the sill. Frost tenderness and deciduousness. It comes in to survive rather than to crop, drops every leaf by December, and should go back out in May.A plant that looks dead on a January windowsill and is not. Watering it as though it were in growth is what actually kills it.

Growing it without soil

Nearly anything can be grown in a soilless system by somebody with enough equipment. The useful question is whether it is worth it, in which technique, and what goes wrong.

Not worth it

It can be made to grow, but a soilless system is the wrong tool — usually because of rooting volume, running cost, or a result no better than a pot of compost.

source

GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence

A deciduous tender shrub that drops every leaf and needs a dry dormant rest. A system that keeps its roots wet through that period rots it.

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ

Checked 2026-08-13

The dormancy is the whole problem. A plant that must be kept dry for three months is a poor fit for equipment designed never to stop.

Techniques that suit it

Drip-fed mediumSolution is dripped into an inert medium around each plant. The most forgiving technique and the one that suits large, long-season, heavy crops.

Horticultural consensusDepends on conditionsmoderate confidence

Applies when: Only with the feed stopped entirely over winter, which most systems cannot do.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Root space: Moderate and free-draining.
pH band: 5.5–6.5

Where these figures come from

Root spaceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

pH bandSourced guidancehigh confidence

Outside roughly this band, individual nutrients become unavailable even when they are present in the solution — which is why a crop can starve in a full reservoir.

Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic solution management — pH

Checked 2026-08-13

No nutrient recipes here

GrowingHQ records pH bands, which are measurable properties of nutrient availability, and deliberately records no EC or PPM targets and no mixing instructions. Published targets vary by cultivar, growth stage, water source and technique, and the figures that apply to your system are on the product you bought.

Harvesting

When it is readyPick leaves from June until they fall in autumn, taking them from firm shoots rather than the softest tips. The autumn leaf drop is the main harvest rather than a loss — gather the leaves as they turn and dry them, because lemon verbena holds its scent on drying better than any other herb here.
How to pick itCut whole shoot tips through the summer to keep the plant bushy, and strip falling leaves in autumn. Dry them somewhere warm and airy and store airtight.

Where the harvest guidance comes from

When it is readySourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Aloysia — harvesting
Checked 2026-08-13
How to pick itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

What goes wrong

Problem	How often	Notes
Red spider mite	common source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13
Root rot	occasional source Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-15.