Lemon Myrtle for Your Garden

A lemon myrtle tree is an attractive and fragrant small tree with a myriad of uses, from repelling mozzies when rubbed on the skin to making lemon myrtle cordial and sauces, bikkies, flavouring fish and much more.

It can be a challenge to get started, so find out how to grow it successfully.

This small to medium native Queensland tree is one of my favourites for a productive garden.

 It’s compact size makes it quite suitable for suburban gardens.

 If you have a sunny garden: When it’s planted in full sun with moist, enriched soil, it will grow into a shrubby shape and carry its lemony fragrant leaves almost to the ground.

 If you have a shady spot: When grown in part shade in a rainforest setting or in a drier garden, it tends to grow tall and narrow.

It happily accepts trimming and pruning to a shape that suits your garden. I have seen it trimmed into a Christmas tree shape at Roma Street Parkland and as a topiary in a large pot. It looked rather like a lollipop on a stick.

 Our subtropical climate encourages us to entertain outside, and if the mozzies attack, do as I do and grab some Lemon Myrtle leaves. Rub them onto your skin to deter the biting pests. It smells pleasantly lemony, so you will have a natural skin perfume too. The volatile oils are a definite deterrent to our biting ‘friends’.

 The heads of creamy flowers in summer are a real winner, attracting butterflies and beneficial insects to your garden. My stingless native bees just love buzzing happily around, looking for nectar in the flowers.

 Buy a Lemon Myrtle as a small plant in a 140mmm or 200mm pot and before too long it will be a nice specimen in your garden. It’s a nice tree for a productive garden.