Read on below to discover more plants to include in your herbal tea garden.
3. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
This Mediterranean herb with fragrant lilac-blue flowers is a great addition to any herbal tea garden. Lavender fragrance is widely used in aromatherapy for its relaxing effect on the body and mind. Lavender tea also has a similar effect, and can be used to relieve anxiety and tension headaches. It can also be taken for gastrointestinal disturbances because it relaxes the smooth muscles of the stomach and intestinal walls, relieving the pain associated with indigestion.
Grow English lavender from nursery starts for best results. Plant them in well-drained soil in full sun to simulate the Mediterranean climate, and they usually thrive with minimum attention.
The flower buds are used to make the herbal tea. Collect the flower stalks when some of the buds start to open and then dry them in the shade.4. Beebalm/Wild Bergamot (Monarda didyma, M. fistula)
This North American native is a perennial herb, as decorative as it is medicinal. It is often grown in ornamental gardens for its brightly colored flower bunches in red, purple and pink, which attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. But the herb can also make an excellent herbal tea.
Bee balm tea is used to treat colds, headaches, and mild fever. It has a mild stimulating effect, but it is mainly used for its diuretic and digestive properties. The tea is a powerful antiseptic, often used as a throat gargle to cure a sore throat and for washing of wounds and skin eruptions.
Grow bee balm in full sun or partial shade, giving it a relatively dry spot or a raised bed. Deadhead the blooms to promote bushy growth that will provide you with plenty of leaves for brewing the tea.
All aerial parts of bee balm can be used for making tea, but young leaves are preferred when they are fresh. Leaves stems, and flower heads can be dried and stored for use round the year.
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