Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

I've had some for about a year. The summer months seem
to take a toll on it. It's planted outdoors. I planted it last
June or there abouts, give or take a month. It doesn't look
too well at the moment, and in fact there's very few leaves
left upon it. I know some plants seem to just disappear
and then re-emerge when the season is right. Is Lemon
Balm one of those plants?

I'm wondering if the cucumbers that were planted next to
it might be suffocating the roots. Does anyone know of a
way to revive Lemon Balm?

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

Jim Carlock wrote:
Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

I've had some for about a year. The summer months seem
to take a toll on it. It's planted outdoors. I planted it last
June or there abouts, give or take a month. It doesn't look
too well at the moment, and in fact there's very few leaves
left upon it. I know some plants seem to just disappear
and then re-emerge when the season is right. Is Lemon
Balm one of those plants?

I'm wondering if the cucumbers that were planted next to
it might be suffocating the roots. Does anyone know of a
way to revive Lemon Balm?

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

Zone? Climate? Here in Mid-Northern Ontario, Can. Zone 4b, hot and himid
summers with two to three rainless weeks on occasion, well-protected
garden, lemon balm is a perennial.

Jim Carlock wrote:
Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

I've had some for about a year. The summer months seem
to take a toll on it. It's planted outdoors. I planted it last
June or there abouts, give or take a month. It doesn't look
too well at the moment, and in fact there's very few leaves
left upon it. I know some plants seem to just disappear
and then re-emerge when the season is right. Is Lemon
Balm one of those plants?

Tennessee chiming in. My lemon balm is 3 years old. Hasn't bloomed yet
and looks pretty straggly in the summer. I usually harvest in the spring
and dry it for year round use. I've read that it spreads, but mine has
yet to do that.

Kate

"Wolf Kirchmeir" wrote:
Zone? Climate? Here in Mid-Northern Ontario, Can.
Zone 4b, hot and himid summers with two to three
rainless weeks on occasion, well-protected garden,
lemon balm is a perennial.

Thanks,

I'm in Tampa, FL. The average daily year round temp
is something like 72º F. We get rain when a hurricane
gets close enough. It freezes very rarely here. Might get
two nights a year where the temps might come close to
freezing. August was a dry month. September was dry
as well, even with hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.

I've read some stuff via googling about it being a bushy
perennial and I looked up some definitions of perennial,
some seem to indicate that perennial plants thrive all
year long, while some indicate at least 3 years. Some
definitions indicate it means "coming back over and
over". So the definitions leave me puzzled wondering
if it leaves the Lemon Balm as a "forever plant" or a
dying down to roots and later growing new leaves. :-)

Some plants die down to nothing but roots and then
come back the next year. Are those perennial? Does
Lemon Balm behave in such a manner?

And while some websites indicate Lemon Balm actually
thrives throughout the year... my Lemon Balm appears to
be dead, with only a couple set of tiny green leaves upon
it. Some of the stems have turned woody and I've pulled
those.

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

"kate" posted:
Tennessee chiming in. My lemon balm is 3 years old.
Hasn't bloomed yet and looks pretty straggly in the
summer. I usually harvest in the spring and dry it for
year round use. I've read that it spreads, but mine has
yet to do that.

Yes, mine started to spread but it ended up stuck to
about a 9" diameter circle (though right now it looks
alot smaller). When I bought it last year it was in a
small cup-sized plastic pot.

I use fresh leaves for tea, haven't tried the drying out
thing. When I want some tea I go outside and cut some
fresh leaves off. How do you dry your leaves? Maybe
I'll try drying them if the plant comes back.

I tried getting some more to grow with a packet of seed
but I guess I should have waited for the summer to pass. :-/

Welp, just took care of that... just planted some into some
styrofoam cups. I'll see how that works out.

Thanks for your comments, Kate. Looking forward to
reading about your dry style. g

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

"Jim Carlock" expounded:

Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

It's positively weedy here in my yard, seeds all over the place!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Jim Carlock wrote:
"Wolf Kirchmeir" wrote:

Zone? Climate? Here in Mid-Northern Ontario, Can.
Zone 4b, hot and himid summers with two to three
rainless weeks on occasion, well-protected garden,
lemon balm is a perennial.


Thanks,

I'm in Tampa, FL. The average daily year round temp
is something like 72º F. We get rain when a hurricane
gets close enough. It freezes very rarely here. Might get
two nights a year where the temps might come close to
freezing. August was a dry month. September was dry
as well, even with hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
[...]

Your area may just be too warm for lemon balm. Plants are surprisingly
adaptable to different climates than their native ones, but there are
limits.

"Perennial" just means the plant survives from year to year - no winter
kill (eg our wild violets, which are white.) "Annual" means it lives for
a year, and grows from seed the following year (e.g dill.) "Biennials"
have a two-year growth and reseed cycle (eg, foxglove.) Some perennials
have a relatively limited life-span of a few years. Lifespan for plants
varies a lot: a birch lives about 30-40 years, while an oak can live for
a several hundred years, and a bristlecone pine can live for several
thousand years.

Some plants that are perennial for you in Florida are annuals for us -
our winter kills them. But if we bring them inside for the winter, they
survive just fine. We have an oleander, a bougainvillea and a hibiscus
that are going on 20 years old. All spend the summers outdoors and the
winters inside. All three are perennials from central California
southwards. We also have to bring in a variety of bulbs and corms, else
the deep frost will kill them.

Conversely, apples and roses do not like heat - subtropical is about as
warm as some varieties will tolerate, other varieties don't like that
climate at all. Our birch trees won't grow down where you are. And so on.

One final thought: if it's not climate, it's soil type (acidity.) Can't
recall whether lemon balm wants acid or basic soil, though.

HTH

Ann wrote:
"Jim Carlock" expounded:


Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?


It's positively weedy here in my yard, seeds all over the place!

See, it's the climate!

"Wolf Kirchmeir" of Canada posted:
See, it's the climate!

g Must need a good freeze, maybe a sub -0ºF to get it
to seed?

Kate in Tennessee doesn't seem to get the seed. I imagine
the temps in Tennessee get to freezing, but I don't know how
low they get there. We'll have to wait and see what Kate
says.

Thanks for the great explanation about perennial et al in
the other post. I have a question... that's a spiffy first name
you got there. Is that your real first name?

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

Ann of Boston posted:
"Jim Carlock" of Tampa expounded:

Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

It's positively weedy here in my yard, seeds all over the place!

Jim Carlock wrote:
[...]
Thanks for the great explanation about perennial et al in
the other post. I have a question... that's a spiffy first name
you got there. Is that your real first name?
[...]


Yes.

Here in CT it just thrives on the edge of a woodland setting. If it
didn't smell so nice I'd say it was invasive.
You may be too warm to propagate by self sowing, try rooting some
cuttings if you wish to make increase, I bet a moist spot in part shade
would help where you are.


Tom

Jim Carlock wrote:

"kate" posted:

Tennessee chiming in. My lemon balm is 3 years old.
Hasn't bloomed yet and looks pretty straggly in the
summer. I usually harvest in the spring and dry it for
year round use. I've read that it spreads, but mine has
yet to do that.


Yes, mine started to spread but it ended up stuck to
about a 9" diameter circle (though right now it looks
alot smaller). When I bought it last year it was in a
small cup-sized plastic pot.

Mine's probably 2 feet across in the Spring, when it looks it's best.
(Sorry, math class was too long ago for diameters.)

I use fresh leaves for tea, haven't tried the drying out
thing. When I want some tea I go outside and cut some
fresh leaves off. How do you dry your leaves? Maybe
I'll try drying them if the plant comes back.

On top of the refrigerator in a seedling tray.

Reading the other replies, my guess is that even though we get hard
freezes here, we don't get enough of them for lemon balm to flower. Now
spearmint on the other hand.....at least it goes well with lemon balm in
tea.

Kate

Jim Carlock wrote:
Does anyone know how long lemon balm lasts? If it ever
flowers? When does it seed?

I've had some for about a year. The summer months seem
to take a toll on it. It's planted outdoors. I planted it last
June or there abouts, give or take a month. It doesn't look
too well at the moment, and in fact there's very few leaves
left upon it. I know some plants seem to just disappear
and then re-emerge when the season is right. Is Lemon
Balm one of those plants?

I'm wondering if the cucumbers that were planted next to
it might be suffocating the roots. Does anyone know of a
way to revive Lemon Balm?

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup, thanks.

Jim, my experience with Lemon Balm doesn't indicate that it needs any
cold/freeze to germinate. It is native to southern Europe and N.
Africa. It's rather a scraggly plant in its first year and tends to
look like its on its way out! The blooms are easy to miss and appear
in late summer in the leaf axils. Many perennials do not flower the
first year.

LB grows best in full sun; or part shade where it is very hot. Since
your plant was planted out in June, it may not produce flowers the
first season. Can be susceptible to powdery mildew. It likes a pH of
about 7.0. Likes well drained, moist soil. But it seems to be drought
tolerant here. (Nor Cal)

Can be propagated by layering, cuttings in spring or summer, and seed.
Germinates at 70 degrees, better if seeds are not covered. Seeds can be
planted early in spring outside. Plants are very cold hardy, but will
die over winter if in a wet place. I found the plants to be rather
short lived, but reseed readily, as I have not "grown" it for at least
10 years, but every spring I find a plant coming up somewhere in the
garden.

Don't give up on it yet,
Emilie
NorCal