Favorite Plant Friday: Lemon grass

This is a post from last year where I was rooting the lemon grass stalk in plain water.

Below is a picture from last August when it was in the ground and the two stalks now have been grown considerably and the plant leaves were 3-4 feet tall. It is a beautiful plant.  (I wish I had a pic of the full plant).

Inspiration for growing this plant: I use the stalks in my Sri Lankan recipes and Ivette Soler talks about using lemon grass as a "ornamental grass" in her book the Edible Front Yard which I talk about here.

What do I love about this plant: It is like the energizer bunny it just keeps going and going. I've cut down the leaves a few times for "chai" (i.e. Indian spiced tea) but they are still growing. I can't wait to plant this back into the ground and see if it will take off again.

Growing tips: 
There are two types of lemon grass one grows easily from seed (I don't know if it has much of a stalk). This is the other type which I propagated from the stalk.

 Don't throw out this plant at the end of the summer season. I dug up one stalk and replanted it inside and it may not look huge but its growing strong.  I can't wait to plant it outside this summer.


Source:  Lemon grass stalks purchased from Wegmans