In Search of Lemon Verbena

I love lemon verbena. It is a wonderful plant with leaves that have a fabulous lemon aroma and flavor. Chopped in a fruit salad it turns the ordinary into the gourmet. It makes a delicious herbal tea. Brushing against it in the garden releases a fragrance like lemon lollipops. It's a plant I love and need, if one can need a plant. That's the good part.

All this does not come easily. The plant is sometimes called tender, sometimes called half-hardy and by some nurseries who hate to disappoint their customers called annual. It is a perennial but a fussy one. Around here it has to come in the house in a pot. It usually drops its leaves. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. This year you can see for yourself, the thing is as dead as the Wicked Witch of the West.

So I'm going plant shopping with two gardening friends. I have my list of plants I "need", plants I want, and of course there are plants out there that beg to go home with you as surely as a puppy in the pound. The three of us go in one car. At least that limits the available space. We do this every year and I usually ride home with plants on my lap. Wish me luck!