Lemon Myrtle
Backhousia citriodora
A tree-sized herb whose leaves are the crop, and they are at their strongest just before it comes into flower.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 9 ft 10 in
- In-row spacing
- 9 ft 10 in
- Between rows
- 12 ft 4 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Herb · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun, in a warm and sheltered spot.
- Watering
- Water regularly through summer, and ease off in winter.
- Feeding
- Feed through spring and summer; container plants want a monthly liquid feed.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- June
- Pruning
- Tip-prune it often, and shape it once flowering is over.
- Overwintering
- It needs frost-free shelter once temperatures drop below 5°C.
Through the year
- Mar–Apr Bud Break
- Apr–Jun Harvest
- Jun–Nov Flowering
- Nov–Dec Dormancy
- Jan–Mar Dormancy
Companions
Lemongrass, Ginger, Turmeric
Pests & problems
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com