LEMON GRASS PLANT FULL
LEMON GRASS PLANT SERIES

Lemongrass is often used in Asian cuisine and herbal teas. Plant these divisions in new locations in your garden, or share them with neighbors and friends.

You can vegetatively propagate it by division, using a sharp hatchet or spade to divide tight clumps. Lemongrass is a clumping grass that spreads by tillering.

That makes lemongrass perfect for outdoor entertaining areas. Citronella oil is naturally found in lemongrass and is commonly used as a natural mosquito repellent. Much evidence suggests this plant may even help to repel mosquitos. Lemongrass is low maintenance and has few pests. For patio use, plant them in containers at least 12 inches across. Lemongrass can be a fairly large plant, so use 24-inch spacing when massing them in the landscape. If youвЂ™re not going to grow your lemongrass in a container, a raised bed is the perfect alternative location. Lemongrass needs fertile, well-drained soil, and it does not perform well in clay or other heavy soils.

LEMON GRASS PLANT FULL

I actually grow lemongrass in containers in my Ocean Springs garden.ДЄlways plant in full sun for the best performance. However, it is perfectly happy and productive when planted as an annual or in containers in north Mississippi. Lemongrass is a reliable perennial grass that survives normal winters in Mississippi hardiness zones 8b and 9a. Since lemongrass is a tropical plant, it is susceptible to some of the winter temperature extremes we have from time to time. Seeds are readily available online if you want to try both species. This is okay because both can be used interchangeably, but the East Indian variety is the preferred culinary species. at Home on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.Garden centers commonly sell both species as lemongrass. We welcome story suggestions at can find L.A. through the lens of its landscapes, appears here on Tuesdays.

LEMON GRASS PLANT SERIES

The Global Garden, our series looking at multicultural L.A. Lemongrass adapts well to containers, but be sure to use a large pot if the site is in full sun. When harvesting, clip only one or two stalks every few months from the outside, slicing at the soil line. With room to expand and a humid environment, lemon grass will produce stalks within four months and will continue producing for about four years.

You can get seeds for the East Indian variety from online suppliers such as JohnnyвЂ™s Selected Seeds. Seedlings also can be found in garden stores including Mimosa Nursery, a tropical plants specialist in L.A.

Trim off the top few inches, put the base in water that is changed daily and wait a few weeks for roots to grow. You can start a new plant by snipping a stalk from a plant in the ground or from lemon grass bought fresh from the produce aisle. Both can be used for cooking, but the thicker West Indian variety is better. Two varieties are commonly found in nurseries: West Indian lemon grass ( Cymbopogon citratus) and East Indian lemon grass ( Cymbopogon flexuosus). Though the tough stalk is inedible, its flavor is without substitute. The stalks can be skewered for use as flavor enhancers in grilling, the leaves can be tied into a bundle for tea, and the soft white base can be sliced, diced or pounded into a paste. Cultivated widely throughout Latin America for herbal medicines, lemon grass originated in Southeast Asia and emerged in the cuisines of Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

Lemon grass plant