Overwintering

Beautiful lemon verbena

November – a sad, sad month for gardeners. This is it. Really no more room for excuses. Potted plants either have to be sent to glory (i.e., the compost pile) or overwintered indoors. Overwintering geraniums, scented geraniums, chives and parsley is pretty easy. The tough ones, and the ones I want so much to salvage, are lemon verbena and rosemary; two of my favorite herbs.

Two winters back, I successfully overwintered a large rosemary plant in our unheated garage. It still grows, and tonight, I’m going to bring it into the garage again for its winter rest. Last night’s frost might have already done it in; I’ll know when I get home. The lemon verbena was brought into the garage about 2 weeks ago. It’s a delicate herb, and herbalist friends of mine swear by overwintering it in a root cellar or unheated garage. I’ve had no luck with either. This winter, I’m keeping it in a spot in the garage, away from the windows, but where I can see it everyday, so I’ll remember to water it about once a month. Ditto the rosemary.

Wish us luck! There’s nothing harder than spending a summer loving your babies just to watch them wither when November arrives. Blast winter.