Lemon balm over winter

[madonnaswimmer]

I have had lemon balm in my mother's garden for several years. About 2 years ago, I took a patch of it and planted it into a container.

That fall, it produced a lot of seed pods, which I allowed to mature, and sprinkled over the soil in the container around the mature plant. I then cut the plant back to about 1" from the ground, and put the container in my basement for the winter.

This spring, there was no growth from where the old plant was, but it was clear that the seeds had germinated a lot of growth. I had a very bushy plant all year.

Fall is here, and I have seen no seeds even starting. I am debating what to do with this plant over the winter. I am in an apartment currently overrun with house plants, so the only room I have to keep the plant over winter is the basement.

Here are my options (I think):
1.) Cut it back drastically as I did last year, keep it in the basement, and hope for the best
2.) Pull the whole thing up, since I have no seeds, and therefore it probably won't come back anyway
3.) Don't cut it back, put the whole bushy thing in the basement, and let it shrivel up on its own.

What do you think?

[applestar]

As an insurance, you could take cuttings and root them in water or directly in 1/4 sand or perlite potting mix in 4-6" containers.

Can you set up lights in the basement? If not, I would guess (but have not tried) let them go dormant outside -- through frosts but before hard freeze -- then bring inside to the cool part of the basement and keep barely watered but don't let it get dried out.

I'm always nervous doing that (dormant winter storage) since my only place to keep them is in unheated garage that can get down to mid/lower 20's.

One mild winter, with one shoplight on for 24 hours (otherwise it's totally dark in the no windows garage), AND with extra protection (cardboard walls and plastic sheeting covering the whole set up to hold in the little heat from the shoplight fixture) dormant pineapple sage, peppers, and tropical milkweed came through one winter. But it took diligence to monitor the temps and removing the wraps to water, etc. so I don't think I'll be doing that again.

[rainbowgardener]

Why wouldn't you just leave it out? Lemon balm is cold hardy at least to zone 5 (some sources say zone 4 or even 3). I'm in zone 6 and my lemon balm over winters with such vigor that it is becoming a pest in my yard.

[madonnaswimmer]

As an insurance, you could take cuttings and root them in water or directly in 1/4 sand or perlite potting mix in 4-6" containers.

I don't think I care about lemon balm that much, sorry to say!

Can you set up lights in the basement? If not, I would guess (but have not tried) let them go dormant outside -- through frosts but before hard freeze -- then bring inside to the cool part of the basement and keep barely watered but don't let it get dried out. .

No ability to set up lights in my current basement. I am house-hunting right now, so hopefully will have more space soon!

[madonnaswimmer]

Why wouldn't you just leave it out? Lemon balm is cold hardy at least to zone 5 (some sources say zone 4 or even 3). I'm in zone 6 and my lemon balm over winters with such vigor that it is becoming a pest in my yard.

The lemon balm in the ground at my mother's house (zone 5) will last through winter. I am also in zone 5, but was told containers can make it 1-2 zones colder. I am in a second-floor apt... do you think it would survive a zone 5 winter in a container on a balcony?

Would it be better to leave it in the basement?