Grow This: 16 Plants for Your Own Herbal Tea Garden
The tea plant—camellia sinensis—grows mostly throughout Asian countries producing several varieties of a caffeinated and certainly most pleasurable leaf that’s fermented, brewed and enjoyed around the world. For those who love to sip hot soothing beverages—without the caffeine or just with a different flavor—many non-tea herbal plants have also become favorite pinky-pointing sip-worthy brews. Technically called tisanes, a wide range of herbal teas can grow quite well in your very own yard, taking your tea making to an entirely new and delicious level.
Growing herbs is super easy, and many can even grow well inside your home. They smell wonderful and can help keep pests away from other plants, making them an ideal fixture in any garden. Additionally, herbs have a number of health benefits from soothing upset tummies to helping you get a restful night’s sleep.
Leaves, buds and petals of a number of different plants can be trimmed and dried or mixed together with other herbs for tea blends that last for months. When it comes to herbs, a single plant can produce quite a bit of usable parts, but you may want to plant more around your garden for aesthetic purposes. And what you don’t use fresh can easily be dried (in a dehydrator or hung) and stored for later use. Homemade teas make a most wonderful gift, too!
Start seedlings indoors for plants such as lemongrass, and use propagation from cuttings of mint and passionflower. Herbs can be stubborn sometimes versus other plants, and it may take weeks to see growth. Be patient! It’s well worth the wait.
Try harvesting these herbs and plants for your sipping pleasure:
- Mint: Leaves; calming, digestive.
- Passionflower: Leaves; relaxing and restful sleep.
- Rosehips: Buds after bloom has died; vitamin C boost.
- Lemon Balm: Leaves; calming and relaxing.
- Chamomile: Buds; relaxing and soothing tummy.
- Echinacea: Buds; immune support.
- Milk Thistle: Buds; detoxification.
- Angelica: Root; digestive support.
- Catnip: Leaves; calming.
- Raspberry: Leaf; female reproductive support.
- Lavender: Buds; calming and soothing.
- Nettles: Leaf; detoxifying, nourishing.
- Red Clover; Buds; purifying, detoxifying.
- Dandelion: Root; live support; blood tonic.
- Linden: Flowers; digestive, calming.
- Lemongrass: Stalk; calming, relaxing, digestive aid.
Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger
Image: A Girl With Tea
