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Lemon Balm Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden

Every recommendation below traces back to our full Lemon Balm varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.

If: Strongest lemon scent for cooking or tea or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice

Standard lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)

The species has the strongest lemon scent of the three and is what most recipes and remedies assume, making it the best overall pick for most gardens. It's also the biggest of the three and the one documented as self-seeding readily, so it wants real room, either open ground with deadheading or a container standing on paving, rather than a tight spot.

If: A small patio pot or a tight border edge

All Gold

All Gold is genuinely dwarf, roughly a third the height of the species, which makes it the more forgiving choice for a small patio pot or tight border edge where a compact, decorative plant matters more than maximum leaf yield. Its solid golden-yellow foliage wants full sun and a sheltered site, not the shade its colour might suggest.

If: A larger ornamental planting, border edge, bank or slope

Aurea

Aurea sits closer to the species in size but is grown for its dark green, yellow-splashed leaves, a variegated look rather than All Gold's solid gold, and it's flagged as well suited to cottage gardens, wildlife gardens, and banks or slopes, giving more visual colour spread while keeping the full lemon scent. Like All Gold, it wants full sun, not shade.

Answer these as a quick wizard instead →
Lemon Balm growing guide →Full Lemon Balm varieties comparison →

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