Stevia

Sun

Full sun; light afternoon shade helps in very hot climates.

Water

Keep evenly moist but not waterlogged; water when the soil surface starts to dry.

Soil

Well-drained, moderately fertile soil, preferably slightly acidic to neutral. Use a free-draining potting mix in containers.

Height

1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m)

Spread

1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m)

Flowers

Small white flowers in loose clusters, usually in late summer and autumn as days shorten.

Foliage

Opposite pairs of green, narrowly oval leaves with toothed margins; leaves are intensely sweet and may have a lingering liquorice-like aftertaste.

Growth

Moderate to fast in warm weather.

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Heat tolerant
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Needs looking after

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1 ft (0.3 m)

2. After 1 year

   1.4 ft (0.42 m)

3. After 2 years

   1.8 ft (0.55 m)

4. After 3 years

   2 ft (0.6 m)

   full size

About 2 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Growth rate

Fast

• Plant outdoors after frost danger has passed and nights are consistently warm.
• Water at soil level and let excess water drain freely; do not leave pots standing in water.
• Apply a light mulch, keeping it clear of the stems.
• Feed container plants lightly with a balanced liquid fertiliser during active growth; avoid heavy feeding.
• Bring a potted plant into a bright, frost-free place before cold weather, and water less while growth is slow.

Pruning. Pinch out young shoot tips once plants are established to encourage bushy growth. During summer, shorten long shoots above a leaf pair and remove developing flower buds if leaf production is your priority.

Pick healthy, fully expanded leaves once the plant is well established, leaving enough foliage for continued growth. For a larger harvest, cut leafy stems just before flowering, when sweetness is generally strongest, and before any frost. Use fresh or dry in a warm, airy place out of direct sun, then strip and store the leaves airtight.

Early spring

Sow fresh seed indoors in warmth, pressing it onto the surface; germination can be poor and uneven.

Late spring

Harden off young plants and plant outside after frost danger has passed.

Early summer

Pinch shoot tips to encourage branching and begin light leaf picking.

Summer

Check container moisture frequently and take non-flowering tip cuttings to make replacement plants.

Late summer

Harvest leafy stems before flowering for drying.

Autumn

Move plants you want to keep into a bright, frost-free position before the first frost.

Winter

Keep overwintering plants just moist and check indoor growth for aphids and whitefly.

• Grow in a kitchen-door container where leaves are easy to pick.
• Plant in a sunny potager alongside basil and parsley for a mixed culinary harvest.
• Use as a modest green filler among calendulas and other edible-garden flowers.
• Include in a raised herb bed where drainage and access for harvesting are good.

Garden styles it suits: Potager (kitchen garden), Edible landscape, Herb parterre, Cottage garden, Homestead and Small-space.

Plant it with: Basil, Parsley, Chives, Calendula and Lettuce.

Wildlife: The small flowers can attract visiting insects if allowed to develop; harvesting before flowering limits this benefit.

• Root and crown rot in wet soil: improve drainage, keep mulch away from the crown and never leave containers standing in water.
• Aphids on soft shoots: wash off small colonies with water; use insecticidal soap labelled for edible plants if needed.
• Whitefly, especially indoors: inspect leaf undersides, isolate affected plants and use an edible-crop-labelled insecticidal soap as directed.
• Wilting and scorched leaves in hot, dry conditions: water thoroughly and provide light afternoon shade where heat is intense.

The leaves are edible for people in ordinary culinary amounts. Stevia is not known to be toxic to cats, dogs or horses, but reliable species-specific safety information is limited; do not encourage pets or livestock to eat it. Concentrated extracts and mixed sweetener products are not equivalent to the garden plant.

• Aztec sweet herb (Phyla dulcis)

  Also sold under the name Lippia dulcis, this has a low, spreading habit, broader leaves and small rounded white flower heads rather than stevia's upright stems and loose flower clusters.

• Lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora)

  Has much longer, narrower leaves, commonly arranged in whorls of three, on an increasingly woody shrub; crushed leaves smell strongly of lemon.

Stevia honours the Spanish botanist Pedro Jaime Esteve, while rebaudiana honours the Paraguayan chemist Ovidio Rebaudi, who studied its sweet compounds.

Propagation. Take soft tip cuttings from healthy, non-flowering shoots in spring or summer and root them in moist, free-draining propagation mix. Seed needs warmth and light, often germinates unevenly, and produces plants that vary in sweetness; cuttings preserve the parent plant's qualities.

Accepted botanical name

Stevia rebaudiana

Native range

Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central and Paraguay.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0) and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.