In all my years of researching herbs, I've never been able to discover how to grow lemon verbena from seed. All I know is that seed should be sown in spring, and that the plant doesn't often produce seeds. And that it's not often successful. Propagation is usually by cuttings.
Thanks, Daisy. None of my books could provide any lead, although I do remember once reading that the seeds often go mouldy. I finally realised I was searching in the wrong part of the world, and looked for Latin American sites; one Argentine site mentioned the scarce/zero germinative power of the seeds. Won't stop me from trying though!
I have a wonderful lemon verbena, about 6 years old. Never tried seeds before. I've tried cuttings a number of times, they callous over and hang on for about four months, but never grow any roots, then die. I think it is due to the fact that i don't provide bottom heat for them.
It may interest gardeners in the Sydney region to know that Lemon Verbena is a favourite food plant of our native Reed Bee.
The Reed bee is quite small and is partly red in colour, and lives in small hollows of soft stemmed plants such as hollowed-out stems of dead fronds on tree ferns. This is one very good reason to not remove the frond bases of dead fronds.
