Why The Grumpy Gardener Loves Lemongrass

About This Episode

The Grumpy Gardener shares helpful advice on growing lemongrass. Plus, the long-blooming perennial that is the plant of the week.

Question Of The Week

Do you know anything about lemongrass? Last summer, I planted some, in both containers and the ground, but none came back this spring. Do I have to buy new plants every year?

Grumpy's Answer

Yes. Now, I love lemongrass. Just an ornamental grass. It looks, it's real pretty in the garden. And it's also indispensable flavoring for Asian cooking. However, it's a tropical plant, and it will not take a freeze. It'll just die to the ground. So you're going to have to buy a new one every spring, but that's no big deal. It grows fast, it's cheap, and a single plant is usually suffices for all the needs of a family. So yeah, new plant every spring.

Plant Of The Week

One of my favorite perennials for long blooming in the summertime is Summer Phlox, which is phlox paniculata, and it comes in just about all the different colors that you can imagine, from blues and purples to whites, orange, reds, pinks. The big problem that phlox has, especially in humid regions like the South, is powdery mildew, which is this white powdery film that gets on all the leaves and makes the plant look really ugly.

So, when you're choosing your garden phlox, your summer phlox, to put in the garden, to choose a variety that is mildew-resistant. And I've been trialing some out in my garden just to see how things go. I've gone through quite a few. And the best ones that I have found so far is a series of phloxes called Fashionably Early. And it's called that because this particular one, which I actually think is a hybrid, it blooms earlier than the regular summer phlox. It starts blooming in May, whereas here in Alabama, the other phlox probably waits until June or July. So it starts blooming early. It comes in a couple different colors. There's one that's called Crystal, that's pure white. There's one that's called Princess, which is a violet pink. And like I say, it is the most mildew-resistant phlox I've ever tried. It starts blooming early, and if you cut back the old blooms, it'll put out new ones, and then it'll do that repeatedly all through the summer. And another good thing about this, it's o- It's a plant that's good for the front of your border or the mid part of your border. It only grows to be about 15 to 18 inches tall, so it's not going to crowd out anything.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 20 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.