It grows to 70-150 cm tall. The leaves have a gentle lemon scent, related to mint. At the end of the summer, small white flowers full of nectar appear. These attract bees

Lemon Balm requires light and at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate so it is best to plant indoors or in spring and not to cover the seeds.

Lemon Balm grows in clumps and spreads vegetatively as well as by seed. In mild temperate zones, the stems of the plant die off at the start of the winter, but shoot up again in spring. It can be easily grown from stem cuttings rooted in water, or from seeds. Under ideal conditions, it will seed itself prolifically and can become a nuisance in gardens.
Lemon Balm is a citrusy and fresh scented herb. It is very prolific and easily grown
Fresh or dried leaves are used.

Did you Know
Melissa is Greek for Honey bee

some good info there Veg :)

i have lemon balm growing as a weed here. it has a big root system and easily survives the dry. it is great as a lemon tea with lemon verbena.
it seems to be perrenial and mine need all their last season’s growth trimmed off. it does spread by seed but is easy to weed in its young stage..

Melissa officinalis
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/balm—02.html

This herb has been with me on my journey through life and is commonly used to soothe and calm but is also used in remedies for any mouth or throat inflammation.

It is quite hardy but like all mints .. look away and it will die from lack of water.
It is a clumping rather than a running mint. So it never becomes invasive.

It is favoured by bees and can be used to calm bees.

It is quite hardy but like all mints .. look away and it will die from lack of water.
————————————
lemon balm is more drought tolerant than mint here on pepe’s prairie.
the balm is more like garlic chives insofar as they only got a sniff of water during the drought and survived ok. mint on the other hand was watered every week and practically died.

pepe said:

It is quite hardy but like all mints .. look away and it will die from lack of water.
————————————
lemon balm is more drought tolerant than mint here on pepe’s prairie.
the balm is more like garlic chives insofar as they only got a sniff of water during the drought and survived ok. mint on the other hand was watered every week and practically died.

admittedly it is hardier than some mints but I can only keep it alive by placing it in a shady position. It is no way as hardy as garlic chive weeds.

not sure if any of my seeds will Germinate as there where best before 1992 17 years ago.

admittedly it is hardier than some mints but I can only keep it alive by placing it in a shady position. It is no way as hardy as garlic chive weeds.
-
ok – hardier than mint – not as tough as garlic chives – and does best in semi-shade.

veg gardener said:

not sure if any of my seeds will Germinate as there where best before 1992 17 years ago.

seed often surprises you.. especially if it has been kept well

roughbarked said:

veg gardener said:

not sure if any of my seeds will Germinate as there where best before 1992 17 years ago.

seed often surprises you.. especially if it has been kept well

i wont mind if they don’t come up.

pepe said:

admittedly it is hardier than some mints but I can only keep it alive by placing it in a shady position. It is no way as hardy as garlic chive weeds.
-
ok – hardier than mint – not as tough as garlic chives – and does best in semi-shade.

correckut.. at least out here in the arid west of NSW.

Lemon Balm seed is quite long lived.

roughbarked said:

It is favoured by bees and can be used to calm bees.

good for Veg to grow for his bees then :)

bluegreen said:

roughbarked said:

It is favoured by bees and can be used to calm bees.

good for Veg to grow for his bees then :)

alright to use dead bits in your Smoker?

veg gardener said:

bluegreen said:

roughbarked said:

It is favoured by bees and can be used to calm bees.

good for Veg to grow for his bees then :)

alright to use dead bits in your Smoker?

I haven’t tried that..

but there can always be a first time.

however I would caution you to stick to smoke that you know the bees like.

A new smoke can cause the bees to go into a stinging frenzy.