Can Lemongrass Grow in Michigan? Easy Growing Guide

Yes, lemongrass can grow in Michigan, but not as a perennial you plant once and forget. If you're wondering about the colder regions of Canada, the same issue applies: lemongrass needs warmth above freezing and is usually grown in containers or as a seasonal plant grow in Canada. It's a tropical grass with virtually no frost tolerance, so it won't survive a Michigan winter in the ground.

What you can do is grow it as a seasonal container plant: start it indoors, move it outside after your last frost, enjoy a solid growing season, then bring it back in before temperatures drop in fall. Done right, the same plant can come back year after year, and you can harvest plenty of stalks along the way.

Michigan's climate and why lemongrass won't just 'grow there'

Michigan spans USDA hardiness zones 5a through 6b depending on where you are. Detroit sits in zone 6a, Grand Rapids in zone 5b. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a tropical plant that needs temperatures to stay above freezing to survive, and it really wants warmth well above that to thrive. In New York, the same tropical limitations apply, so outdoor growth depends on warm temperatures and often works best with container or indoor overwintering temperatures to stay above freezing.

Once temps dip below freezing, you'll lose it. That means outdoor-only growing in Michigan is a one-way ticket: the plant lives for a season, then dies. The good news is that lemongrass grows fast, produces well in a single warm season, and handles container life better than most herbs.

Which type of lemongrass should you actually grow

blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Two species get sold as lemongrass: Cymbopogon citratus (West Indian lemongrass) and Cymbopogon flexuosus (East Indian or Malabar lemongrass). For kitchen use, C. citratus is the one you want. It's the thick-stalked, heavily citrus-scented grass used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking, and it's the one most commonly found in grocery stores, nurseries, and garden centers. C. flexuosus has thinner stalks and is more often used for essential oil production. Either can be grown in Michigan using the same container approach, but if you want to cook with it, start with C. You can use the same general container-and-overwintering approach to can you grow lemongrass in Wisconsin, too grow lemongrass in Michigan. citratus.

Neither species has meaningful cold tolerance. There's no 'cold-hardy' lemongrass variety that will overwinter in Michigan soil. Anyone selling you on that is overpromising. Some sources mention ornamental relatives in the Cymbopogon family, but none of them survive Zone 5 or 6 winters outdoors reliably. Stick with standard C. citratus and plan around container growing.

Outdoor vs. container growing: what's actually realistic

You have two paths: treat it as a true annual and plant it directly in a garden bed each spring, or grow it in a container you can move. I've tried both. The bed approach works fine for a single season if you're okay buying or starting fresh plants every year. But the container method is clearly better for Michigan.

Yes, lemongrass can grow in Utah, but it typically needs warm conditions and is usually grown in containers so you can protect it in colder months lemongrass in Utah. It lets you bring the same plant indoors each fall, skip the cost of replacing it, and get a head start on the growing season the following year since the plant is already established.

For container growing, use a large pot, at least 12 inches wide and ideally 18 inches or more. Lemongrass develops a serious root clump and gets crowded fast. Use a well-draining potting mix, not straight garden soil, which compacts in containers and causes drainage problems. Make sure the container has drainage holes. I watched a batch of plants slowly decline one summer before realizing the oversized decorative pot I'd used had no drainage and was holding water at the root zone after every rain.

When to plant and how to work around Michigan frost

Frost dates vary across Michigan. Detroit's last frost date is around May 12. Grand Rapids runs a bit later, around May 27. If you're in the Upper Peninsula or higher elevations, you're looking at even later last-frost dates.

Don't put lemongrass outside until night temperatures are consistently above 50°F and all frost risk has passed. Utah State University Extension recommends planting lemongrass after the last frost, and it notes the plant needs warm, humid conditions and full sun night temperatures are consistently above 50°F.

Yes, you can grow lemongrass in Pennsylvania too, but you will likely need to use a container so it can be moved indoors before cold weather can you grow lemongrass in pennsylvania. A single frost will kill or severely damage it.

Start plants indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date. You can start from seed, but it's slow and germination can be inconsistent. The faster route is to buy a start from a nursery or propagate from a grocery-store stalk. Grocery store lemongrass often has viable root bases. Trim the top down to about 3 to 4 inches, place the base in a glass of water near a sunny window, and roots will appear within a week or two. Once you see good root development, pot it up in a well-draining mix and grow it under a bright window or grow light until it's ready to go out.

In fall, watch your forecast carefully. First frost for Detroit typically arrives around October 21. In Grand Rapids it's earlier, around October 7. Don't wait for a frost warning to act. Bring your lemongrass indoors before nighttime temperatures drop consistently below 50°F, typically in late September or early October depending on your location in the state. Because will lemongrass grow in Colorado depends on cold tolerance, consider container growing so you can move it indoors before freezes lemongrass indoors. Cold damage happens fast, and stalks that brown from frost damage won't recover.

Overwintering your lemongrass indoors

This is where most Michigan growers either succeed or fail with lemongrass long-term. You have two realistic options: keep it actively growing indoors through winter, or let it go semi-dormant in a cool, low-light space.

Keeping it actively growing

If you want to keep harvesting through winter and have the plant hit the ground running in spring, give it the brightest spot you have, ideally a south-facing window that gets 6 or more hours of direct sunlight. Most Michigan homes won't have adequate natural winter light for this, so a grow light makes a real difference. Keep the plant in a warm room, above 60°F consistently, and water when the top inch of soil dries out. Growth will slow compared to summer, but the plant will stay green and healthy.

Letting it go semi-dormant

The lower-effort option is to move the plant to a cool but frost-free space: an attached garage, a basement with some ambient light, or a heated but uninsulated porch. Aim for temperatures between 40°F and 55°F. The plant will likely go brown and look dead, but the root clump often stays viable. Cut back the stalks to about 6 inches, reduce watering significantly (but don't let it go completely dry), and leave it alone until late winter. In February or March, move it to brighter conditions and increase watering to wake it up before outdoor season.

Before bringing any container plant inside, inspect it for pests: spider mites and aphids love to hitch a ride indoors. Rinse the foliage, check the undersides of leaves, and treat with insecticidal soap if needed. It's much easier to handle a minor pest issue outside than to deal with an infestation spreading to your other houseplants.

The biggest overwintering mistake I see is overwatering. A semi-dormant plant in a cool space is barely using moisture. Water thoroughly every 2 to 3 weeks at most, and make absolutely sure the pot drains completely each time. Root rot from sitting water is the most common reason otherwise-healthy lemongrass dies over winter in Michigan.

Harvesting and solving common problems

When and how to harvest

Lemongrass is ready to harvest once individual stalks are about 12 inches tall and at least half an inch thick at the base, roughly pencil thickness or wider. That usually happens about 3 to 4 months after transplanting outdoors, which puts your first Michigan harvest somewhere between late July and early August if you got starts in the ground by late May. Twist and pull individual stalks from the outside of the clump, or cut them near soil level. Don't harvest more than a third of the plant at once. The clump will continue pushing out new growth, and you'll get staggered harvests through the rest of the season.

The edible part is the lower 4 to 6 inches of the stalk, the pale, tightly wrapped section just above the root. The upper green blades are fibrous and typically used for teas or broths rather than direct cooking.

Common problems and how to fix them

• Brown tips outdoors in summer: Usually underwatering or wind damage. Lemongrass is thirsty in warm weather. Container plants especially can dry out fast. Water deeply and consistently, and mulch around in-ground plants to retain moisture.
• Brown tips or browning stalks in fall: Cold damage. If you're seeing this, the plant has already been hit by cold air. Get it inside immediately. Trim damaged material back to green tissue.
• Yellowing leaves indoors: Usually insufficient light. Move to a brighter window or add a grow light. Low light combined with overwatering is the fastest way to lose an overwintered plant.
• Root rot: Almost always caused by poor drainage or overwatering. Make sure your container has drainage holes and that water isn't pooling at the bottom. Let the top inch of soil dry between waterings.
• Slow or no growth in spring: If you overwintered in a cool dark space, the plant needs time to wake up. Bring it to warmth and light gradually in late February. Don't flood it with water before you see new green growth emerging from the crown.
• Pests indoors: Spider mites are the most common issue. Yellow-stippled leaves and fine webbing are the signs. Increase humidity around the plant and treat with insecticidal soap or neem oil. Catch it early.

Is it worth growing lemongrass in Michigan

It's absolutely worth it if you cook with lemongrass regularly or just enjoy having it on the patio. The container method isn't complicated once you understand the rhythm: start or wake up indoors in late winter, move outside after mid-May, harvest through summer and early fall, bring back in by late September. The plant rewards that attention with fast growth and real harvests. If you're in a similar northern climate and wondering how this compares, Wisconsin and Minnesota growers face nearly the same situation, and the same container-and-overwinter approach applies there too. Michigan is actually on the warmer end of that comparison, which gives you a slightly longer outdoor season to work with. That's not nothing.