Aloysia triphylla

 

The Terrace

 

Lemon verbena can be found on the Terrace by the Pavillion.

This tender shrub from South America has the most delicious scent, it smells of lemon sherbet. If you break off a few leaves and place them in a bag of icing sugar you can make lemon tasting icing. It can also be added to potpourri.

It is tender so it needs careful placing in the garden, beneath a wall gives it added protection, and if the frost catches the ends of the shrub it can be cut back lower down to produce new growth in the spring.

The small deciduous shrub also has panicles of small lavender coloured flowers; the panicles can reach 12 cm in length.

It prefers growing in full sun in poor well drained soil.