Fields:
Lemon Balm - Uses? |
lemon balm invasive? |
lemon balm?
From: "Kate Coombs" <Kate.Coombs@MindSpring.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Lemon Balm - Uses?
What are some common uses? The Rodale herb book says Lemon Balm was used as a mild tranquilizer and some study shows that the herb has a sedative effect on the central nervous systems of lab mice. The oil of lemon balm is supposed to inhibit bacteria and viruses.
Lemon balm reportedly cleases the skin. Steamy lemon balm facials are recommended for persons with acne.
Beekeepers once rubbed lemon balm inside a hive to encourage swarms to stay.
The plant is also supposed to repel certain insects. Try rubbing down a table to keep bugs off of it or throw it into a fire so bugs won't bother the people around it.
I use it as a culinary herb, have not tried any of the above but thought them interesting.
*
From: "Kate Coombs" <Kate.Coombs@MindSpring.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
>Is lemon balm as invasive as mint?
I have several kinds of mint and lemon balm. My lemon balm has not been invasive at all. My mint certainly is. I've planted the mint on the edge of my vegetable garden and just use the rototiller to keep it under control, so far so good.
*
From: "tbird" <tbird@centuryinter.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
It can be invasive, since it is a member of the mint family, but mine has never--ever been nearly as invasive as spearmint or peppermint.
***If God approved of nudity we would have been born naked***:>)
*
From: alf.christophersen@basalmed.uio.no (Alf Christophersen)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
Dana Parker <danapark@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>My brother in law gave me some plants from his garden that he calls
>"lemon mint". The leaves are darker and greener than my peppermint and
>spearmint, and slightly bigger, and they do smell like lemon. They look
>just like the leaves of lemon balm, in fact. What's the difference, if
>any, betwen lemon mint and lemon balm?
Lemon mint is of the mint family, mentha sp., the other is not, but both are in Labiatae.
Growing habits is quite different, the minst as with others has a root that is spreading quite a lot, while lemon balm has roots that is not spreading, keeping them quite high up in earth so they may freeze easily if not covered in areas with more than -10 deg C (none of mine passed over to years year it seems to, they seem quite dead :-( The mints are quite a lot tolerant to cold because the roots are quite deep. There are many varieties of mint, one even smelling a lot like the parfume Eau de Cologne, 4711 and here in Norway it is just called so, 4711-mint :-)
*
From: Pete & Janine <pjerlandsen@home.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
Mine die out every year. I only have it coming up from seed. I like a natural look to the garden so I leave most of the new plants wherever they come up. Some of my lemon balm grows up to three feet in height and will take up a good portion of the area around it but I like it. I have had no problem with it spreading like my mint.
J9
*
From: joanm@iname.com (Joan Mathew)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
That will probably depend, in part, on where you're located. I live just north of Dallas, TX, and the stuff grows like a house afire!
I trim it severely several times per year -- probably on a 6-week basis -- because it grows so well. I have it in an area where it gets a little shade during the afternoons because of our sizzling summers. During the past 2 years the patch has grown from about 4 seedling transplants (I grew it from seed) to a patch about 2'x4' in dimension. I don't know if that's what you'd call invasive.
I use lemon balm in herbal teas, but I recently read an article that stated it was good to combat squash bugs! The article said "they literally run from the stuff as you spread it amongst your plants". I haven't tried it yet, but I will do just about anything I can to combat those things! I have successfully saved plants by injecting Bt into the stems, but so far that was the only success. I will try the lemon balm trick this year and see what happens.
Joan
-- Reply via email to joanm@iname.com http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8098/index.html USDA gardening zone 7b, just north of Dallas, TX
*
From: "tbird" <tbird@centuryinter.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
Larry Jaques wrote in message <354d660c.189883038@news.millennianet.com>...
>"tbird" <tbird@centuryinter.net> wrote:
>
>>Yep--I've used barriers, grown it in containers--it doesn't care--It thumbed
>>it's nose at me and went right on growing wherever it's heart desired--at
>>times traveling up to 8 feet underground...
>>It's quite tenacious!
>
>How deep were the rootsies?
In that particular herb bed I had black plastic down with mulch on top and they would run under the plastic....silly me for thinking that would deter them! Anywhere there was a hole in the plastic there the darn things were--It's okay now though cause my ex-husband has custody of them now---hmmhahahaha(maniacal laughter). I am going to see mama (who has an extensive herb bed that she's in the progress of moving) so, I'm sure I will inherit a portion of all her invasive herbs
*
From: "Kate Coombs" <Kate.Coombs@MindSpring.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Lemon Balm invasive?
I have several kinds of mint and lemon balm. My lemon balm has not been invasive at all. My mint certainly is. I've planted the mint on the edge of my vegetable garden and just use the rototiller to keep it under control, so far so good.
*
From: Jenkins <jenkins@nava-link.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
Can I put my two cents worth? I have found with all the books I have read on the subject, Lemon balm is a genus of only three species, alot less then the mint family. The plant I have has just grown into a bigger clump, although I cut the seeds off of mine and save then. So I dont know if it would seed itself or not. I imagine it would. Now There is a lemon mint that does come from the mint family (mentha),I dont have itbut wished I did. This limon mint would probably spread. Then there is lemon bee balm (monarda citriodora). It is realy lemon berganot and it grows up to four feet tall. It will seed itself, but I dont have a problem with it. Mark
*
From: Gary Cooper <biggary@utdallas.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm invasive?
On Thu, 14 May 1998, JFR wrote:
> Sounds like it is pretty much consensus that lemon balm is a Melissa
> plant and not a Monarda.
The name is used both for (at least one species of) Melissa and for (at least one species of) Monarda, and for plants of two or three other genera. I think this thread started out talking about Melissa officinalis, so most of the comments have been about it. Melissa officinalis is also sometimes known as lemon mint, but this name is also used for some other plants, including a true mint (Menta?) that doesn't seem to be very common. The Monarda lemon balm is also called Bergamot or Bergamot mint (the true bergamot is a citrus fruit, though), and by a number of other names.
Then there's lemon grass, lemon basil, lemon thyme, lemon-scented geranium, Jack Lemmon, etc.
Gary
From: alf.christophersen@basalmed.uio.no (Alf Christophersen)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm?
JFR <jrembet@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Is Lemon Balm typically a MONARDA variety?
They both belong to Labiatae and is just as far related as mints are :-)
Melissa officinalis is not invasive, it is a bush which mostly spread by seeds, not by an invasive root like Mentha species.
*
From: cwcook@acpub.duke.edu (Will Cook)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm?
On 7 May 1998 04:24:01 GMT, Jenine Ireland wrote...
>
>My question is...is Lemon Balm INVASIVE??? Didn't know it was mint related.
>If it is I need to dig it up and replant with mint control measures before
>it takes over my garden!! I'm already fighting an ill-placed planting of
>Monarda.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is very invasive here. In my yard it's at least as invasive as any Mentha species and much more invasive than Monarda species, with far fewer redeeming qualities.
-- Charles W. "Will" Cook w 919-660-7409 cwcook@acpub.duke.edu h 919-967-5446 Duke University Botany Dept., Durham, North Carolina
*
From: cgreen@yosemite.atc.com (Christopher Green)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm?
In article <355100E7.CCD@ix.netcom.com>, JFR <jrembet@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Is Lemon Balm typically a MONARDA variety?
>
>Will it do well in Austin, z8b, and if so any cultivation hints?
Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis, is closely related to the mints, takes the same culture, and is about as invasive (i.e. very invasive). Some people like to use it for herb teas; I never found it to have much flavor.
Monarda is bee balm, a different plant altogether, very nice in cottage gardens and other old-fashioned plantings.
There is also a hybrid lemon mint, but I've never grown it.
Any of the mints will grow just about anywhere, as long as they have plenty of water. (In dry climates, mints are not all that difficult to contain, because they will not spread into dry ground. They can still turn up in unexpected places if they manage to get their seed spread around, though.)
-- Chris Green Email cgreen@atc.com Advanced Technology Center Phone (949) 583-9119 22982 Mill Creek Drive ext. 220 Laguna Hills, CA 92653 Fax (949) 583-9213
*
From: Gary Cooper <biggary@utdallas.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible,rec.gardens
Subject: Re: lemon balm?
On Thu, 7 May 1998, Alf Christophersen wrote:
> JFR <jrembet@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> Melissa officinalis is not invasive, it is a bush which mostly spread by
> seeds, not by an invasive root like Mentha species.
This may well be true in Norway (or anywhere else with cold winters), but in Texas it's perennial and spreads all over the damn yard.
Gary
*
top of page