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Smells like lemons

17 years ago

I have no idea what it is. No plant tags to be found, but I must have sown the seed since I have three plants in various places around the perennial bed. The flowers are pale lavender/white. The foliage smells just like lemon scented detergent when crushed. It's a strong odor, not necessarily unpleasant. It's about 3' tall in all three spots.

I noticed the smell when standing it back up after the rain. Any ideas?

Comments (19)

  • 17 years ago

    Looks like (lemon) basil to me.

  • 17 years ago

    I agree.

  • 17 years ago

    kind of basil and yet the spires remind me of a kind of sage. It does look like an annual

  • 17 years ago

    African blue basil has the same long flower stems.


  • 17 years ago

    Interesting. I sorta kinda remember planting lemon basil. Thanks! I was worried it was Lemon Balm which I do not want.

  • 17 years ago

    Let's not let this great thread get away. Can we hijack it and add more plants that smell of lemons, either the foliage or the blossom?

    What smells of lemons in your garden besides lemon basil?
    I have lemon grass, which has responded very well to lots of rain.
    When I kept a culm of it in the greenhouse over winter, the cat liked to chew on it.

    What are your lemon scented plants?

    Nell

  • 17 years ago

    Magnolias. :)

  • 17 years ago

    I agree, Southern Evergreen Bay Magnolias do have a lemon scent. The decidious magnolias have other frangrances. There's one here, a lily magnolia whose buds usually get nipped by the cold but when it does bloom, smells like watermelon. I think tea olive smells like lemons, too, but not the same lemon fragrance as Magnolias.

    Here's a pic of lemon grass. You can grow a clump of lemon grass from a single culm from the grocery store, if it has part of the basal plate so roots can form. Mine started as a single culm from somebody's plant.

    Nell

  • 17 years ago

    I have to keep whacking back my lemongrass. It grows in a bed next to the screened porch. There's no way I could ever harvest it enough to keep it in check. I think this fall I'll dig up a clump from the backside (porch side) and put it in the garden where it can have more freedom.

  • 17 years ago

    tea olives have an apricot, fruity smell to me. I don't detect any lemon, but perhaps some generic citrus. I wish there was a "Plug-In" with tea olive fragrance.

  • 17 years ago

    Tom, Nouvelle Candle Company of New Orleans has a sweet olive scented candle. Can't tell you if it's authentic, but they do offer a great product. Love their orange vanilla and Noel Blanc scents. The sell wholesale, but their products are available at a number of retail outlets.

    Nouvelle Candle Company

    Monarch's Heaven (retail site -- about halfway down the page)

  • 17 years ago

    How can you not buy from a company whose website plays Etta James? Thanks for the links!

  • 17 years ago

    OMG - that's one of my favorite songs! How cool that they have "At Last" on their website... thanks

    Carrie

  • 17 years ago

    Thank you, lol! Decided to start my Christmas shopping and order a few Noel Blancs along with one of the Caldrea countertop sprays.

  • 17 years ago

    Yes, that is Lemon Basil.
    I have it. I love to walk through the garden and brush against it. What a wonderful fragrance. I grow it in with my tomatoes. It makes the best Basil Chicken. Cooked the chicken on a grill. Butter it a bit as it cooks and sprinkled chopped Lemon Basil on the chicken, with a bit of garlic powder or fresh minced garlic. Talk about! Great with fish, too. Yummy in spaghetti sauce or mixed into the meat when making lasagna. Delicious in Crepe Suzette, too.
    Makes all egg dishes taste like you wouldn't believe.

    Another Lemony herb is Lemon Verbena. It is divinely LEMON.
    It is a tender herb, however, like Lemon grass, so either has to be brought inside or lucky you if you live where it can winter over outside. Does not like to be moved, so best to grow it in a LARGE pot. It gets big - about 2-3 ft. tall and nearly as wide. The flowers are beautiful and they smell of lemon blossoms. It is also a beautiful plant in any garden.

    (I have an Etta James CD.)

    ~Annie

  • 17 years ago

    Two new things I picked up here today......Etta James (just listened and love her music) and lemon basil. I have planted lots of basil, but never that one. I have a note made to do it next year.

  • 17 years ago

    Just an update...

    I placed my order with Monarch's Heaven last week and received it today. Well packed and they included lagniappe ... a Pacifica Red Ginger votive in a votive holder. What's really cool about it is the feeling of deja vu I get when I sniff the votive. Can't put my finger on it, but it's something pleasant from my past.

  • 17 years ago

    LOL, Natal, I bought a box of cookies today. On the box, it says,

    "Since 1910
    Red Ginger,
    Molasses & Natural Ingredients
    give our
    Ginger Snaps
    that baked-at-
    home Taste."

    My own little Red Ginger deja vu in that box, yes.
    I looked at the candles and other goodies on that web site. They sound heavenly.

    Nell

  • 17 years ago

    I have lemon balm and variegated lemon thyme. I use the thyme as an edger next to a sidewalk in a large cottagy bed, and it is rabbit proof, good to look at, and also very nice to cook with - again chicken and fish.

    The balm reseeds and also creeps on rhizomes so it would be good for a difficult area - beware if you put it in prime real estate. It is wonderful to brush past - haven't had much luck flavoring tea with it though.

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