Plants have their own body clocks just like humans. If it's time to sleep, then they'll sleep! You don't need to do anything special with a deciduous plant. In fact, almost all plants have a dormancy period. Some just make it more obvious than others. Even here in our very mild winters, most plants don't do any growing over winter, and many look a bit 'owsyafather, like the mints for instance. That's dormancy. Now, when you're asleep, how much eating and drinking do you do? Not a lot, I reckon. Same with plants. When dormant, they do not need feeding (fertilising), and if in pots they need just the barest minimum of water to prevent the soil from drying out - the plant won't actually drink at all until it's awake again. Often, when a plant is ready to become dormant, you can forcibly keep it awake for a bit longer. Eventually, however, prolonged enforced sleeplessness will cause it to become one very sick plant. As with humans. When using grow lights, you need to simulate the conditions outside. 18 hours of light per day is a long time, isn't it? Let it go to sleep overnight, eh? You can control Nature only to some extent. Eventually Nature will win any battles we humans inflict on it.

Lemon Verbena will never look good in the winter because it is deciduous. When the days get short the leaves will drop and the plant will go dormant. In the spring you will see new buds as the days get longer. The only way you can keep the leaves looking fresh all winter is to use a grow light. I put my plants in a cool well lit area and let them go dormant and only water if the soil is very dry. Watering all winter will kill it because it's not growing. In the spring lift your plant and see if it's root bound and root prune and repot. Root pruning is extreamly important if you want lush new growth. I generaly take cuttings in May. I start them in peat pots because it's easier to see young roots.

Hi I have lemon grass, the way I got mine was-is I went to HEB and there it was on the produce shelf so I looked and found some with little root? or how should I put this?the base had a small stump instead of the grass showing rooled up in layers, took it home put it in water changed water daily and in no time it sprouted roots. I beleieve I paid around 99 cent for a small bundle around 5 or so stalks,

I don't really understand why they must be flat. You say you want to use whole leaves for tea but I don't see why they need to be flat whole leaves. They'll shrivel when drying but once you pour the boiling water onto them they'll uncurl. They would take up more storage space than rubbed leaves but all that means is that you need a bigger container. I am trying to envisage making a mug of tea using whole flat leaves several inches long. Wouldn't they possibly poke up out of the water or not fit in crosswise? Curled up leaves would sit nicely in the bottom of the mug and get maximum steeping. However, if you really want flat leaves i can only think of pressing them individually like flowers. Alternatively, do what you do now and invest in a tea strainer or tea egg.