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Lemon verbena

Metrónomo / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 2.5 AR

Lemon verbena

Aloysia citrodora

Lemon verbena is a woody South American shrub grown as a kitchen herb for its glossy, lance-shaped leaves, which carry a strong lemon scent and flavor for teas, desserts, and cooking. Aloysia citrodora (also spelled citriodora) is the accepted name, but nurseries often still label it Aloysia triphylla, and older books call it Lippia citriodora. Despite the common name it is not a true verbena of the genus Verbena: it is grown for its fragrant leaves, not its flowers, which are small sprays of white to pale lilac from midsummer into early fall. In the ground it reaches 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, but only 2 to 4 feet in a pot. It is frost-tender, hardy outdoors only in USDA zones 8-10, where it loses its leaves when it freezes; in colder climates it is grown in a container and overwintered indoors, or replaced each spring as an annual. The leaves are a culinary and tea herb, but the European Medicines Agency does not recommend the medicinal tea during pregnancy or breastfeeding or for children, and NC State flags the plant as a problem for cats, dogs, and horses.

Climate fit: narrow (21/100)

Edible

Container

Border

Light

Full sun

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

6-8 ft tall · 3-6 ft apart

Hardy in zones

8a-10b

cold to mild winters

Life cycle

Perennial

Bloom period

Summer / Fall

Native in Illinois

No

The leaves, fresh or dried, make a lemon-flavored herbal tea and flavor fish and poultry dishes, marinades, salad dressings, salads, fruit salads, desserts, and jams, and the flowers are used in teas and desserts too; the dried leaves also go into potpourri.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 9 ecoregions - 7 climate-resilient through 2070 · 2 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

California coastal sage and chaparral

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Eastern Australian temperate forests

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Edwards Plateau savanna

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Fynbos shrubland

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New Zealand North Island temperate forests

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Piney Woods

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Willamette Valley oak savanna

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Puget lowland forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

3-6 ft

Habit

Upright, multi-stemmed woody shrub grown as a herb; evergreen where winters are frost-free, deciduous where it freezes

Care tips

•

Give it the sunniest, most sheltered spot you have and light, well-drained soil. In zone 7 and colder, grow it in a pot and bring it indoors before frost.

•

Do not give up on a bare plant in spring: it leafs out late, drops its leaves indoors over winter, and often resprouts from the base after a cold winter outdoors.

•

Pinch the tips while it is young and prune in early spring for a bushier plant, and pick leaves all season, when they are most aromatic just before and during flowering.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant after the last frost in full sun, in light, fertile, well-drained soil that stays moderately moist. It wants the warmest, most sheltered spot available, such as the foot of a sunny wall. In zone 7 and colder, plant it in a container that can come indoors for winter rather than in the open ground.

Transplanting

Set out container-grown plants once the soil has warmed, at the same depth they grew in the pot. Where winters are too cold, keep it in a pot and bring it inside before frost to a bright, cool spot, watering only sparingly. It drops its leaves indoors and leafs out again in spring, so a bare plant is not a dead one.

Early growth

Keep the soil evenly moist while it establishes, and pinch or cut back the tips of the main stems to encourage branching. Aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and spider mites are occasional problems.

Maturity

In the ground it grows 6 to 8 feet tall and wide in mild climates, and 10 to 15 feet in its native habitat, but only 2 to 4 feet in a pot. It is evergreen where winters are frost-free and deciduous where it freezes. The wood survives about 14°F, but a hard winter often cuts it to the ground, and it resprouts from the base in late spring or early summer; a thick mulch over the roots helps it through. Prune in early spring. The leaves are most aromatic just before and during flowering.

Propagation

Propagate from stem cuttings, which root quickly and easily: softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer, or half-ripe cuttings in late summer. Keep the rooted cuttings frost-free through their first winter. Seed set is variable in North America, so cuttings are the usual route.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Artemisia dracunculus 'Sativa'

French tarragon

French tarragon is the culinary clone of Artemisia dracunculus, grown for the pungent anise-like flavor and aroma of its narrow, glossy green leaves - the defining herb of béarnaise sauce and classic French fines herbes. It is a shrubby, rhizome-spreading perennial that rarely flowers and sets effectively sterile seed, so it is propagated only by cuttings or division rather than from seed. Unlike its wild parent species and the inferior Russian tarragon, this 'Sativa' selection holds the true tarragon flavor.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Chenopodium quinoa

Quinoa

An Andean grain crop grown for its small, protein-rich seeds, which ripen in dense heads of white, red or black at the top of an upright annual usually 3.3 to 6.6 feet tall. Quinoa is a pseudocereal, not a grass: it belongs to the amaranth family (the goosefoot genus was formerly placed in Chenopodiaceae), is related to spinach, and shares its genus with the garden weed lambsquarters. The seeds carry a bitter saponin coat that must be soaked and rinsed off before cooking, and the young leaves are eaten cooked like spinach. A true annual sown each spring, it does best where summers are cool and may not produce seed where temperatures run too hot.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Calendula officinalis

Calendula (pot marigold)

An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3 to 4 inches across) in bright yellow through deep orange, often with a contrasting darker center disk. In cool climates it blooms over a long summer-to-fall window; in hot summers it tends to languish and may need a midseason cutback to rebloom. The somewhat bitter flowers and lance-shaped aromatic leaves are edible, and the petals lend color to soups, rice, and baked goods.

Herb

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Satureja hortensis

Summer savory

A fast, bushy annual culinary herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native from southeastern Europe to western Asia. NC State Extension describes an erect, multi-stemmed plant about 18 inches tall and 1 to 3 feet wide, with linear, gland-dotted, aromatic dark-green leaves and small lilac, pink, or white summer flowers. It grows rapidly - harvestable within a couple of months of sowing - and is prized for its mild, slightly peppery flavor. Grown as a warm-season annual, it wants full sun and sharp drainage and does poorly in damp soil or shade.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Artemisia dracunculus 'Sativa'

French tarragon

French tarragon is the culinary clone of Artemisia dracunculus, grown for the pungent anise-like flavor and aroma of its narrow, glossy green leaves - the defining herb of béarnaise sauce and classic French fines herbes. It is a shrubby, rhizome-spreading perennial that rarely flowers and sets effectively sterile seed, so it is propagated only by cuttings or division rather than from seed. Unlike its wild parent species and the inferior Russian tarragon, this 'Sativa' selection holds the true tarragon flavor.

Shiso is a fast-growing Asian culinary herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native across a wide arc from the Himalayas through China, Japan, and Korea to Southeast Asia (Wikipedia; GBIF). In temperate gardens it is grown as a tender annual reaching 24 to 35 inches, prized for its aromatic, serrated leaves used in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese cooking. The honest catch is its aggressive self-seeding: shiso sets abundant seed in late summer and is designated a weed in parts of the United States, so deadheading before seed set is essential unless you want a permanent colony - and all parts are toxic to grazing livestock (perilla ketone).

An Andean grain crop grown for its small, protein-rich seeds, which ripen in dense heads of white, red or black at the top of an upright annual usually 3.3 to 6.6 feet tall. Quinoa is a pseudocereal, not a grass: it belongs to the amaranth family (the goosefoot genus was formerly placed in Chenopodiaceae), is related to spinach, and shares its genus with the garden weed lambsquarters. The seeds carry a bitter saponin coat that must be soaked and rinsed off before cooking, and the young leaves are eaten cooked like spinach. A true annual sown each spring, it does best where summers are cool and may not produce seed where temperatures run too hot.

Calendula officinalis

Calendula (pot marigold)

An Old World cottage-garden annual grown for daisy- to chrysanthemum-like flowerheads (3 to 4 inches across) in bright yellow through deep orange, often with a contrasting darker center disk. In cool climates it blooms over a long summer-to-fall window; in hot summers it tends to languish and may need a midseason cutback to rebloom. The somewhat bitter flowers and lance-shaped aromatic leaves are edible, and the petals lend color to soups, rice, and baked goods.

Herb

Full sun / Part shade

A low woody herb for sunny edges, between pavers, and herb-garden borders with pollinator-friendly summer flowers.

A low, drought-loving Mediterranean herb grown for its woolly silver-grey rosettes of soft, felted leaves and its stiff summer spikes of small, soft-yellow flowers cupped in densely woolly bracts - the plant known as Greek mountain tea or ironwort. It is a tough alpine and rock-garden subject that wants hot, dry, very sharply drained ground and full sun, and rots in wet or rich soil; it is only borderline hardy. POWO (Kew) records Sideritis syriaca as native to the eastern Mediterranean - Crete, the Levant, and Türkiye. The dried leaves and flower spikes make the traditional caffeine-free Greek herbal infusion long valued as a folk remedy for colds and coughs, so it is parts-edible as a tea but is grown as a herb rather than a food crop. The soft-yellow summer spikes are a good bee plant.

Educator packet

Plant packet

Lemon verbena educator packet

Lemon verbena is a woody South American shrub grown as a kitchen herb for its glossy, lance-shaped leaves, which carry a strong lemon scent and flavor for teas, desserts, and cooking. Aloysia citrodora (also spelled citriodora) is the accepted name, but nurseries often still label it Aloysia triphylla, and older books call it Lippia citriodora. Despite the common name it is not a true verbena of the genus Verbena: it is grown for its fragrant leaves, not its flowers, which are small sprays of white to pale lilac from midsummer into early fall. In the ground it reaches 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, but only 2 to 4 feet in a pot. It is frost-tender, hardy outdoors only in USDA zones 8-10, where it loses its leaves when it freezes; in colder climates it is grown in a container and overwintered indoors, or replaced each spring as an annual. The leaves are a culinary and tea herb, but the European Medicines Agency does not recommend the medicinal tea during pregnancy or breastfeeding or for children, and NC State flags the plant as a problem for cats, dogs, and horses.

Scientific name

Aloysia citrodora

Plant type

herb

Hardiness

8a-10b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

moderate

Spacing

3-6 ft