HelpfulGardener.com

Is anyone growing lemon grass? I'm not sure it can be grown in USA is this a tropic plant?

I am watching a Vietnamize TV cooking show they put lemon grass in with chicken broth to make chicken taste like lemons. I can't grow lemons but maybe I can grow lemon grass. Cooked chicken is yellow color and lemon grass looks yellow too.

Believe me, it can be grown here, but not from the seed species - it takes way too long, and it only about 3/16" in diameter from January to November.

If you have a source for fresh lemongrass, you can root some of them about 3 weeks before putting it in the ground. I usually cut the very ends off, peel the driest leaves off, put it in some water, with a small amount of Clonex, or other cloning hormone, and get roots in 3 weeks, changing every 3 or 4 days. Then, I just stick them 4" into the ground, and by the end of October, pull it out of the ground. Here are a bunch of photos I took this year - lasts me a few years, vacuum sealed. And the green leaves can be used, when fresh, like this.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id= ... Lemongrass

I grow lemon grass. I recently repotted mine. It grows in a clump and it will get big in the ground, but works fine as a pot plant. It rarely blooms, if it does, it usually means there is something wrong with the roots of the plant. The seeds do not germinate easily. It is better started with a cutting.

DW likes lemon grass. Fortunately for me, we don't have to put it in everything. As PepperHead212 says, it is very possible to start from what you can buy at a store and we have it potted up after starting it in water. Extra stalks from the market? Clean them up and put them in water .

It isn't that I dislike lemongrass but it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. It might be that I have a strange relationship to citrus flavors. As a kid, I thought that a lime flavored Green River was such a good step up from lemonade . Yes! Lemon verbena is very much a favored herbal tea. Lemon balm - NO.

Thyme is a very good choice with chicken, I have no idea why I have never tried lemon thyme other than that I don't see it on the produce counter or the garden center. I should be looking for it harder!

Steve

Actually lemon grass extract is what is often used to create "lemon flavor". Lemon grass has a citrus-like flavor, but it is still different from citrus. I usually use lemon grass to get rid of the poultry smell. I put the lemon grass in the cavity of the chicken and it takes away the smell. It can also be used as a seasoning for roasting whole pigs, and fish along with other seasoning ingredients, usually a whole lot of garlic.

You can also make lemon grass tea and some people use it for medicine.