How to Grow an Herbal Tea Garden: 20+ BEST Flowers and Herbs to Grow
Growing herbs, plants, and fruits specifically for your herbal tea is fun, empowering, and so much better for you than the oxidized old powders in the stores. Do you love to garden? Do you love herbs? In this article, you’ll find over 20 of my favorite plants that grow everywhere so you can grow your own tea garden for both pleasure and health! And enjoyment.
And guess what? You can even grow some of these indoors!
This article is a compilation of just a few of my favorite garden herbs and plants to grow to use for healing herbal teas as well as for simply pleasure. It’s based on my experiences with these plants in zone 8 (Las Vegas, Nevada), zone 6a (the high mountains of Southern Nevada), and zone 5 (where we are now in Idaho).
My love of gardening started with vegetables when I was a little girl, being taught by my dad, a master gardener.
When I started studying herbalism around twenty years ago, though, my love of gardening combined with my love of herbal tea. First I made my teas for taste and pleasure and to share with my friends. I even had a tea shop for a time! But then, my love of tea gardening extended quickly to the healing qualities of the plants!
I’m excited to share some of my favorite garden plants for creating beautiful, fresh, and delicious herbal teas that beat those store-bought versions hands down every single time!
Enjoy!
Best Practices for Your Tea Garden
There are several factors to consider when getting your tea garden ready. You’ll need to apply these factors to each individual plant, as of course, some like dry soil, some enjoy damp soil, some love full sun, and some plants do best in shade. These tips below are generalities to consider.
1) The Soil
Soil is the least exciting thing about your garden, BUT it’s also arguably the most important factor. Always prepare the soil based on the plants you’ll be growing. Although some plants will tolerate poor soil, like rosemary and oregano….others are more finicky and like nutrient dense soil for their roots.
The soil is best when it has a nice loose texture. Therefore, if you’re dealing with clay, amend with sand and organic matter. If you’re dealing with sandy soil, then tons of organic matter will build it up. If you’re growing blueberries that like acidic soil, you may need to add amendments to offset very alkaline soil. If you’re working with acidic soil, which can potentially burn plants, then adding some lime can be helpful.
It’s just all going to depend on your soil, the plant’s needs, and amendments you have available. Your most important factor in your garden is your soil, so this area is worth spending some time on.
2) The Location
How much sun does your garden area get each day in terms of hours? This is a vital question for plants sensitive to sun or who need many hours of sunshine for full development. You’ll want to plant your plants in terms of general likes in needs. Do some research on your plants to figure out what they need, then plan your garden accordingly.
3) Tending Your Garden
There’s such pleasure in growing your plants, whether you start your seedlings inside or purchase them from the nursery. Checking in on your plants each day can help you yield beautiful, lush plants that will provide you with hundreds of cups of delicious, healthy herbal tea.
Pruning, pulling weeds as soon as they emerge (they’ll choke out many of your tea garden plants if allowed), and thinning seedlings are all important. If you have plants with special needs, such as rosemary, which likes to be misted daily, then you’ll need to spend a bit of pleasurable, therapeutic time looking after your plants.
Get this free 12 page guide to 10 common and popular herbs plus a handy cheat sheet! It’s perfect for your kitchen or home apothecary! Click here! I’d love to send yours now!
4) Pests
Be on the lookout for pests! They can quickly overcome a plant in just one day. If there’s one thing I’m pretty vigilant about, its checking for pests such as caterpillars, mites, white flies, etc. I love to see praying mantises in the garden, as well as lady bugs! You can buy these from garden centers or order them to add to your garden area, as they effectively kill many pests.
Another way to manage pests naturally is to companion plant. By planting certain flowers and plants together (or not), you can take advantage of synergistic growing. Some plants repel certain insects, so planting a plant that attracts aphids, for example, next to a plant that repels them might be a good idea. Likewise, sometimes gardeners will plant a “sacrificial plant” to attract the aphids that might end up on your beloved tea garden plant.
You can read more about companion planting here, and also print out my free guide!
5) Avoid Over Harvesting
Many gardeners believe you should harvest the older, more mature leaves. However, with a tea garden, there are a couple of reasons for harvesting the newer, younger growth. One is flavor. The younger leaves will be less bitter and yield a better taste. Leaving the larger leaves, too, can help promote vigorous new growth when the younger leaves are harvested.
One thing I’ll do a few times throughout the season for my mints, for example, is cut the top six to eight inches off the plant. It’s amazing how this helps spur better growth and several more harvests throughout the season!
6) Growing Indoors
I get asked all the time if it’s possible to grow your plants inside, and for many of the herbs you’ll enjoy for tea, you can certainly grow indoors, even if you’re in an apartment. It will just take a bit of forethought and planning.
You can find out some of my favorite herbs for growing indoors in this article.
7) Special Tea Gardens
Here’s a fun idea: How about growing specific tea gardens for certain needs?
For example, if you plan well, you can grow a sleepy and relaxing tea garden using chamomile, skullcap, lemon balm, and lavender!
Or, how about an tummy soothing tea garden? You could plant ginger, thyme, peppermint, rosemary and perhaps some fennel or dill?
Yum! How about a lemony tea garden? You could consider the “lemony” tasting herbs such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemongrass, and then some herbs that go with these like tulsi (holy basil) and other mints?
There are so many different kinds of gardens for tea you could plant….or you can just do like I do, and plant all the things you like, then decide how to put them together for your best most delicious cup of fresh herbal tea!
This is echinacea (cone flower). I didn’t add it to this list, even though it’s one of my favorite tea plants. But for pleasure drinking, echinacea isn’t really that tasty, even though it has a lot of medicinal benefits.
Herbs and Fruits for Growing Your Tea Garden
As an herbalist and aromatherapist, I’ve been growing herbs, flowers, and vegetables for food and medicine for many years. I love creating herbal tinctures, herbal syrups from local berries and flowers, and distilling hydrosols and small amounts of essential oils from plants in the garden or the wild. And another of the BEST kinds of gardens I love to grow is a Tea Garden!
Most people who are new to learning about using herbs for their wellness and lifestyle often turn to herbal tea first. Herbal teas are now quite mainstream, and you can find the store shelves lined with tidy boxes containing bags of powdered herbs.
Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to most people, these tea bags are usually not fresh, are often oxidized due to the length of time from plant to box to store to your hands, and perhaps worst of all, the bags often contain PVC or other plastics that your body simply can’t metabolize.
So….why not grow your own herbs for your herbal tea?
If you’re worried you may not know what to do with the fresh and/or dried plants, you can always look here, at my website, for many delicious herbal tea recipes! Or, you can consider taking my course: The Art of Herbal Teas for Pleasure and Health.
Growing plants for herbal tea is incredibly empowering and adds to your self-sufficient lifestyle. Besides the skillset, herbal tea made from freshly harvested plants from your garden are simply the best. Nothing…but nothing….beats freshly harvested and dried herbs, whether for medicine or for pleasure.
Another great thing about growing your own tea garden is the plants often and usually do double (or triple) duty. Some are useful in your cooking, like rosemary, thyme, and sage. Others are lovely flowers such as borage and nasturtiums. And yet others are highly medicinal, such as chamomile, lavender, and valerian.
Finally, many of these flowers simply make stunning bouquets!
I wrote last year about growing a healing medicinal herb garden, and my favorite 20 herbs for an apothecary garden. It sure was hard to narrow down the choices, but I did.
So this year, I’m sharing my favorite plants so you can grow your own herbal tea garden for both pleasure and health. I’ll share why the special herb should be considered for your tea garden, how it behaves plus growing considerations for your garden, and finally, some other benefits the herb may have for you and your family.
Here’s the Tea Garden list of favorites:
Chamomile tea is sweet tasting and very relaxing.
Growing & Using Chamomile for Tea:
Growing Chamomile in the Garden:
Chamomile is a ready self-sowing herb. This means that even though it’s an annual in many places, it drops so many seeds that you can count on it returning year after year and gifting you with its honey- and apple-flavored flowers. It “plays well with others” too, meaning it doesn’t take over, yet gently asserts its presence in a delicate and delightful way.
I know of some herbalists who grow it in pots, but I like to sprinkle the seed in the garden in the early spring and let nature take its course. I’m never disappointed! To harvest chamomile, you’ll cut the top five or so inches from the flower stalks. The upper leaves are fine to use as well as the flowers.
Lay them out to dry, then garble the leaves and flowers from the stems. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your stash of chamomile will add up!
Chamomile for Tea: Benefits & Taste
Chamomile is a relaxant herb, meaning it helps support your nervous system when anxiety strikes or you have the occasional sleepless night. It’s not as strong as valerian, and many people will sip on an afternoon cup of chamomile tea to gently unwind from the day. For others, chamomile is a gentle herb to use right before bed.
I used to have my daughter drink a cup of chamomile tea starting when she was in her middle school years. She still loves it today, and it’s now over ten years later. Chamomile is safe for children of all ages, and can also be helpful for nursing and pregnant women.
Chamomile pairs well with pretty much every other herb in your garden. In fact, I can’t think of a single one that doesn’t potentially go with chamomile.
Related articles you may enjoy:
Herbal Chamomile Ale: A Delicious Brew
Peppermint loves shade, but it’ll do fine with some sunshine too. It loves water!
Growing & Using Spearmint, Peppermint, and Other Mints in Your Tea Garden
There are hundreds of different mint species, and many are wonderful in your tea garden. This section is generally for the most popular peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, chocolate mint, etc. Other mints will be addressed separately, but the mints in this section have similar growth needs and patterns.
Mints in Your Garden
We’ve all heard horror stories about mint taking over a garden area, and indeed this can be a concern. You’ll hear many folks talk of containing mint in their own beds or in pots, and this is actually a great idea. They generally self-seed prolifically, and they can also propagate via runners under and on top of the soil….
Mint can overtake a great majority of your plants, so if you don’t have a special bed or place for them, you may want to consider container pots.
To harvest mint, I like to cut the stems down to about eight inches when it just begins to flower. Lay these stems out to dry, then once dried, garble the leaves and flowers by running your hands along the stalk. They’ll detach easily.
Mints for Tea: Benefits & Taste
Freshly harvested and dried mint can last for quite some time—-over a year if stored properly. I love using spearmint for “softer” flavored teas, and peppermint for when I want a more aromatic and spicy flavor. Both are helpful for the respiratory system, especially peppermint.
Spearmint and peppermint are cooling herbs, and are perfect for adding to a blend on a hot summer day for a bit of refreshment. When I use peppermint and spearmint leaves in my homemade tea blends, usually it’s with the intention of cooling, adding delicious flavor, and supporting the cooling actions of other herbs (like hibiscus) in a synergy blend.
Other mints to consider growing in your herbal tea garden include catnip, chocolate mint, apple mint, and others with lovely flavors. Lemon balm is another favorite, so much so that I’ve saved a special spot for it in this list!
Learn how to formulate herbal teas for medicines here.
You may also enjoy these related articles:
Hibiscus-Mint Tea Recipe: A Summertime Pleasure
Handmade Peppermint & Pine Manly Soap (Women love it too)
Blackberries and raspberries are delicious fresh, dehydrated, or freeze dried in your herbal teas.
Growing & Using Berries in Your Tea Garden (Raspberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Elderberries)
I personally love berries of all kinds in my herbal tea blends. Whether fresh, dried, or freeze-dried, they add a beautiful pop of color, and the fruity taste is just delicious!
Berries in Your Garden
Number one, berries are easy to grow. Elder bushes and trees; raspberry and blackberry bushes and even thickets; and blueberry patches are not only fun and simple to grow, but they can give you the most delightful additions to your herbal tea!
These colorful blue, red, and purple berries are filled with anthocyanins that studies are showing are exceptional for your wellness in many ways.
Berries grow in different ways, so you’ll need to look up how to take care of each type. For example, blueberries need a more acidic soil, while blackberries and raspberries are much more forgiving. They all seem to love water, though!
**I like to grow my berries on the “outer” areas of my yard because they can become rather tall, and the blackberries especially, have wicked thorns. Don’t worry, though, the thorns are completely worth those luscious berries in late summer!
Using Berries for Tea: Benefits & Taste
You can add your berries fresh to your herbal teas, even in cold infusions. They’re just delicious. You can also dehydrate them and use them for many months after in your loose leaf teas, as well! They add pops of color and flavor that are incredibly delicious!
You can easily use the dried berries, as they’ll rehydrate in the tea. However, my favorite type of preserved berry are the freeze-dried ones, if you can get them. The flavor is intense, and the color is too. But best of all are the fresh berries! Just take your favorite herbal tea and add two or three mashed berries and enjoy!
NOTE: Elderberries contain cyano-compounds that many consider toxic. This is because of the tiny seeds they contain. Frankly, I’ve never once had any issues eating a few fresh (not a ton, mind you), and adding them fresh to my herbal creations. However, some people are more sensitive to different plants, so be aware, and start with smaller amounts if you’re concerned.
Dehydrating the berries seems to deactivate the cyano-glycosides, so this makes many feel more comfortable.
If you do dehydrate your elderberries, did you know you can powder them? Yep! Find out how to use the powder here….and this applies also to the other berries!
NOTE: A special note about blackberry and raspberry leaves—-These are wonderful to use in addition to the berries! They’re both rather bitter, however, they’re very astringent, and if you have oily skin, suffer from IBS or other issues with loose bowels, these two leaves are incredibly helpful. You can find out more in my Confident Herbalist Tribe course materials, if you like.
Other articles you may enjoy:
How to Make Elderberry Syrup: A Recipe for Both Fresh and Dried Elderberries
Identifying and Foraging for Wild Elderberries
Elderberry & Echinacea Cordial
How to Make Fruit Scrap Homemade Raw Vinegar (Berries are great in this type of vinegar)
You might enjoy some of the Medicinal Garden Tours from my gardens in these videos! Here’s the first one in the series……
Growing & Using Roses (Petals and Hips) in Your Tea Garden
Rose buds and petals have a slight aromatic flavor that give your herbal tea a softness. They are on the astringent side, and can be very refreshing. Energetically, herbalists have experienced that they help alleviate sad feelings and heal the heart.
Besides these benefits, rose petals are just beautiful in your herbal teas. The hips are full of vitamin C and are quite tart, so take this into consideration for taste.
Roses in Your Garden:
Roses are often cultivated especially for their aromatic flowers, and make excellent cuttings for vases. However, you can’t leave them out of the herbal tea equation (or your homemade beauty products either). Roses, both the tender petals as well as the rose hips that ripen in the fall, are excellent choices for your herbal tea garden!
There are between 100 and 200 species of roses in the genus Rosa. Pretty much all of them enjoy well-drained and moist soil in full sun or sun with some partial shade in especially hot places. Roses are perennials and will flower year after year for you with proper care.
If you’re fortunate to live in a place where wild roses grow, these are also wonderful to forage from for your tea blends!
Rose Petals and Rose Hips in Your Herbal Tea:
The flavor of rose petals in your tea is “soft.” They give your tea a subtle aromatic flavor of roses, but it’s not overpowering at all. If you’re waiting on the rose hips in the fall, these will give your tea the sour but lovely tart taste of vitamin C, which it’s full of.
Rose petals are also full of nutrition, containing vitamin A as well as C, polyphenols and antioxidants. Rose petals and to an extent, the hips, help boost your mood, improve your sleep, and can also help boost your immune system!
You may also enjoy these related articles:
Growing & Using Lavender In Your Tea Garden
Lavender grows well in most zones. You just need to find the right species for your area. I had a fabulous patch of French lavender in my garden in arid and extremely hot Las Vegas, Nevada (zone 8/9) that was just beautiful. Here in Idaho, I am now able to grow the more traditional lavenders. Be sure to look at the nursery tag or purchase hybrids that do well in your area.
Lavender in Your Tea Garden:
Lavender is native to the Mediterranean and has a nice wide range of elevations. I was able to grow certain species in hot Southern Nevada, and more typical species here in our Idaho home gardens. Lavender is a perennial plant that grows in upright clumps from one-foot to well over four feet in all but the coldest zones.
You’ll need to prune them back well after they bloom, and in some areas, you may even be able to get two different bloom/harvest periods from your plants.
Lavender in Your Herbal Tea:
Because of lavender’s popular scent, it’s prized for use in bath and body products and perfumes. Medicinally, it’s helpful with anxious feelings, mild insomnia, depression, pain, digestive issues, and stress. You only need a bit of lavender, though. Too much lavender might give you a headache.
No matter the species, lavender has a sharp, floral aroma, and a strong taste.
Although most people love a hint of lavender in certain tea blends, others find the taste over-powering and verging on “soapy.” It has a floral-spicy flavor and pairs very well with chamomile, lemon verbena, and lemon peel. In fact, try adding some lavender to your lemon aid sometime! You’ll likely become addicted!
You can also infuse lavender with lemon in your water, for a more “pure” herbal tea, as well.
Other articles you may enjoy:
Lavender Infused Cleaning Spray
Lavender-Rosemary-Vanilla Homemade Soap Recipe
Sleeping Tea (This is actually an article for a tincture, but you can use the same blend to make an herbal tea.)
Dandelion in Your Tea Garden
Dandelion is sadly looked down upon as a weed to be rid of in so many places. It’s much maligned. But wait! Don’t pull it up yet! Dandelion is completely edible, and the leaves, flowers, and roots all have some special healing powers. From liver health to supporting detoxification; to skincare help and incredible levels of nutrition, dandelion is one of the best plants you could have growing around.
You can find out more in the links below, but for now, let’s talk about growing it.
Growing Dandelion in Your Tea Garden:
If you can find a pristine area that’s not sprayed or contaminated, foraging dandelion is often the best way to enjoy this plant. It tends to like to grow where it wants, so if you plant it in your yard or garden, just realize that you may have to accept where it chooses to come up.
I’ve purchased seeds from good herb companies like Bakers' before (love their Rosso Dandelion), but really I mostly enjoy helping those dandelions growing naturally in my yard spread a bit with some water, compost, and careful tending for a season or two. Once they take off, you’ll be blessed with more dandelions every year.
Using Dandelion in Your Herbal Tea:
The leaves are incredibly nutritious as is the root. I like to use them dried, and for the fresh leaves, I’ll cook these. In fact, in some high end fancy health stores (Whole Foods, I’m looking at you), you can sometimes even find dandelion leaves fresh in the produce section!
Freshly dried dandelion leaf is a blessing to have in the dark winter months as a tonic. The dried, chopped, and roasted roots make a crazy-delicious and actually good for you coffee substitute.
As far as taste, the leaves are rather salty and bitter, and this is due to the very high mineral content. If you want a calcium boost, drink dandelion leaf tea. The leaves are also highly supportive of the kidneys. The dried roots need to be decocted, which means simmered for about 15 minutes for best results. The flowers aren’t the best in teas, to be honest, so I love to make an infused oil with these for helping itchy and dry skin conditions.
Articles you may enjoy:
Identifying and Foraging Dandelion, Plus Benefits and Uses
Dandelion Pesto Recipe (soooo good!)
Dandelion Infused “REAL” Lotion—Non-Greasy
Liver-Supportive Herbal Tea Recipe: A Tonic Drink
Growing & Using Rosemary in Your Tea Garden
Rosemary is just absolutely one of my favorite herbs, both for medicine and tea for pleasure. It’s excellent for brain and cognitive health, too!
Rosemary in Your Garden:
Rosemary is another plant native to the Mediterranean. It loves to grow near coastlines, and in fact, it’s Latin name, Rosmarinus officinalis, means “dew of the sea” or sometimes “flower of the sea.” Rosemary likes full sun, slightly acidic soil, and can handle drought conditions, if the environment is humid enough.
It’s an “upside down” plant, which means that it likes its roots to be dried out between good waterings, and it takes in moisture from the air through its leaves. I bring mine in during the winter months, as we live in a cold garden zone, and I make sure to spritz it well each day. My rosemary does quite well being overwintered indoors this way.
If you live in a warm zone, zone 7 and higher, then your rosemary will probably do beautifully in the garden, planted in the ground. When we lived in Las Vegas, I had a very tall (a good five feet tall) rosemary plant by our garden gate, and I just loved it so much!
Rosemary has plenty of medicinal qualities, such as supporting brain health and cognitive function, reducing inflammation, and supporting the liver detoxification processes in your body.
Rosemary in Your Herbal Tea:
I like to cut two to five inch stems and steep the entire sprig in my tea. You can also dry the leaves, and use them in tea blends. They add an lovely aromatic quality!
Articles you may enjoy:
Every Single Thing You’ll Want to Know About Rosemary: Benefits and Uses
Juniper and Rosemary Skincare Scrub
Benefits and Uses of Rosemary Essential Oil and Why You Need it in Your Home
Cellulite Scrubbing Handmade Soap Recipe
Growing & Using Pine in Your Tea Garden
Pine might seem like a strange favorite for an herbal tea garden, but I think it deserves a special place.
Pine in Your Garden:
Oh, the stately pine tree! First of all, they make incredible accents and decoration for your yard or garden. They’re evergreen, and therefore, they can make what would be a bleak winter landscape look delightful! There are different types of pines, and I assure you, there are some that will grow in your environment. Some like specific altitudes, some like specific garden zones, and you can find some that love your area. I promise!
The reason I’m including pine in this writing about a tea garden is because the pine needles have some exceptional qualities. For one, they’re full of vitamin C. In fact, they have more vitamin C than oranges do, pound for pound. They’re great for your respiratory system, and they give your tea a kind of citrus-piney-woodsy flavor.
Pine in Your Herbal Tea Blends:
To use pine in your herbal tea blends, you’ll want to cut a few needles into bits. You can steep these just as they are or add them to blends. You can also powder the dried needles. Don’t try this with fresh ones because they’re full of resin that will just get rather “gummy.”
Articles you may enjoy:
Foraging, Harvesting, and Using Pine for Your Health and Wellness
Cedar and Pine Handmade Soap Recipe
How to Make Reusable Beeswax and Pine Rosin Cling Wrap: A Plastic Substitute
Growing Lemon Balm in Your Tea Garden
Lemon balm is an herb I’m just never without. It’s great for hyperactive children, especially in conjunction with chamomile. It’s delicious, and it soothes the nervous system.
Lemon Balm in Your Tea Garden:
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is in the mint family, and grows well in zones 3 through 7. As you can probably tell by the name, it has a lemony scent and flavor. This is due to the aromatic volatile oils (neral and geraniol) found in the secretory structures of the leaves. Lemon balm has incredibly wonderful medicinal properties and is helpful for fighting off cold sores.
It spreads just like other mints do, so if you don’t want it everywhere, consider growing it in a container. It can grow to about 18 inches high, and it blooms white and light yellow blossoms in the mid to late summer months. You can harvest it both before and after flowering.
Medicinally, lemon balm is calming and relaxing, and therefore useful in these kinds of tea blends. It’s helpful for cranky children, too.
Lemon Balm in Your Herbal Tea:
Lemon balm is not strongly lemony—-it’s a more mild flavor, with a bit of a mild minty overtone. It’s delicious in refreshing-type teas. You can brew lemon balm fresh, or you can dry the leaves and enjoy it well into the winter months.
Other articles you may enjoy:
How to Make an Easy, Nerve Soothing Tincture: Great for Soothing Migraines
A Protocol for Shingles: How to Deal with Pain and Speed Recovery
Click now to get your FREE Herbal Remedy Guide and Cheat Sheet for 10 common and easily found herbs in this 12 page guide…plus a cheat sheet! Click and I’ll send yours now!
Growing Strawberries in Your Tea Garden
Strawberries have their own section outside the “berries” section above because their growth habit is so different.
Strawberries in Your Tea Garden:
Wait! What? Strawberries are a fruit!
Well, yes, they are! And they’re delicious in your herbal teas…..
***And actually, they’re not really “fruits.” They are receptacles of the flowers. :-)
Strawberries grow well in zones 4 through 9, and there are over 600 species of strawberries! If you plant different types in your garden, it’s possible to have strawberries producing from spring through fall! Generally, though, most strawberry plants grow to around six inches tall, spread along the ground or hang delightfully from baskets, and enjoy full sun and very fertile soil that’s kept nice and moist.
Using Strawberries in Herbal Tea:
Strawberries taste amazing, just by themselves. When added to tea blends, though, they bring a beautiful flavor of summer to your teas. I like to mash them up, fill a mason jar about 1/4 of the way full with the mash, then cover to the top with just boiled water. Steep them over night. In the morning, strain off the mash, add some ice, and enjoy the most beautiful tea! Add some mint leaves, if you like.
Articles you may enjoy:
Growing Hibiscus (H. sabdariffa) in Your Tea Garden:
Hibiscus leaves and the calyxes of the flowers are wonderful heart-and cardiovascular-supporting plants, and anecdotal use as well as clinical studies support this fact.
They’re exceptionally high in Vitamin C, and the tartness provides excellent refreshment in the hot months. In fact, In hot countries such as Iran and Mexico, hibiscus tea is a mainstay drink.
Hibiscus in Your Garden:
Hibiscus grows well in hot areas, both arid and humid. If you live in a dry, hot area, be sure to give your plants plenty of water. In these areas, hibiscus grows as a perennial plant, but in a colder place like Idaho, I have to grow it as an annual, or overwinter a bit inside during the cold months. It does best planted directly in the garden, though.
The flowers only last one day or at most a couple, depending on the species, so be on the lookout so you can enjoy them.
Using Hibiscus in Your Herbal Tea
Hibiscus in your herbal teas gives your tea a tartness that’s lovely in the hot months. I love mixing the blossoms with mint….such a lovely combination. Besides the delightful flavor, hibiscus turns your tea a gorgeous bright pink or red color. Try it along with some rooibos herb, and enjoy a heart-soothing, anti-oxidant rich delicious drink any time.
Articles you may enjoy:
Eight Heart-Loving Herbs to Support Your Cardiovascular System
Ginger in Your Tea Garden:
Ginger is just plain fun to grow. When you see the tall stem with thin leaves emerge from the soil, you can just imagine the lovely ginger rhizome being nourished beneath the soil so beautifully.
Growing Ginger:
Ginger grows well in more tropical areas, but you can certainly plant it out in colder areas, as long as you dig it up and bring it in well before the last frost. Where I’m at (zone 5) I need to grow it indoors for most of the year, so I don’t bother putting it outside. Luckily it does just fine, and can actually take over an area!
To grow it in a pot, just bury it in rich soil about an inch and a half to two inches down. Keep watered and in a warm window with a decent amount of sun, and watch for the green stalk to emerge, letting you know your ginger is doing great!
Using Ginger in Your Herbal Tea:
Ginger honestly has one of my favorite flavors for herbal teas. When I’m formulating a medicinal tea that may not taste very good, I almost always add ginger and cinnamon both to improve the flavor as well as to stimulate the body to accept the medicinal benefits of the other plants.
You can use ginger either fresh or dried, however using the dried herb will give you a much spicier, pungent taste and flavor over the fresh, which is more delicate and sweet.
Articles you may enjoy:
How to Make a Ginger Bug for a Natural Homemade Soda
Make Fermented Ginger-Beet Kvass: A Traditional Russian Drink for Health
Mugwort, Elderflower, and Ginger Herbal Ale: A Delicious Home Brew
Holy Basil, or Tulsi for Your Tea Garden
Tulsi is easy to grow, and it’s an absolutely wonderful adaptogenic herb that supports overall body and emotional health. There’s quite a lot of folklore around this herb. It’s said to have grown around Christ’s tomb after He was resurrected. In some Greek Orthodox churches, it’s used to make holy water. In India, it’s a plant that’s found in nearly every home in a pot or in the ground, and is known as “the incomparable one".
Tulsi is an adaptogen herb, and as such, it helps the body balance itself and stay well against various stressors, especially emotional in this case. It’s a great herb for women to drink.
Growing Tulsi in Your Garden:
There are several species of tulsi, including Rama, Vana, and Krishna. Their qualities are pretty interchangeable, and they tend to hybridize easily, so it may be difficult to make an exact identification unless you purchase your plants from an herb grower who knows this plant well.
Tulsi grows best in hot areas with drier soil. It’s possible to take cuttings and overwinter the plant inside in cold areas.
Tulsi in Your Herbal Tea:
When we think of basil, we usually think of Italian basil. Holy basil is completely different! It has a lovely flavorful taste that is highly pungent and a bit peppery. Tulsi is wonderful when mixed with “tart” herbs such as hibsicus. In fact, this is a rather exotic combination. It also goes very well with the spicy herbs that include ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, and even turmeric.
And…it’s delicious all by itself!
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Aromatic Culinary Herbs: Thyme, Sage, Marjoram
Like the traditional mints, I’ve grouped the typical culinary herbs into their own section too. These are more savory plants that are also in the mint family. They have aromatic chemicals that give them some pretty significant medicinal qualities for health and healing from common ailments.
Growing Aromatic Culinary Herbs for Tea:
The herbs, thyme, sage, and marjoram, like drier conditions that the mints above. They are native to the Mediterranean and/or European area, and enjoy a bit of heat and well-drained soil. Otherwise, they grow well in most places, and can yield a wonderful harvest from year to year.
Thyme and sage are perennial herbs in zones 5 through 9, which is wonderful as they’ll emerge each spring to say, “Hello!” Marjoram, however, is a bit more finicky, and prefers a warmer environment. In zones 4-5, it’s definitely an annual to plant, or you can overwinter some inside the house. If its protected, it may do fine in zones 6 and 7. It’s a perennial in nice warm zones, 8 and higher.
I like to dry my culinary aromatics every summer to get me through the winter months. I love cooking with my fresh and freshly dried herb that I grow as I’ve found there’s just nothing better than this flavor. Buying your herbs from the store is just not the same.
Using Aromatic Herbs in Your Teas:
For these stronger tasting herbs, I like to use them sparingly. Overall they go well with honey and lemon all by themselves, and the complement the tart herbs like hibiscus and rose hips very well too. I’ve tried them in blends with spices, and if you add just the right amount, you can create an amazingly lovely tea!
Articles you might enjoy:
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Tips for Harvesting, Drying, and Storing Your Herbs and Berries for Tea
Although herbs and different plants have different harvesting windows, it’s pretty safe to say that harvesting your plants should happen at the peak of the season for whatever plant it is. I’m going to speak in generalities here, so be sure to do a little extra research on each plant. Most plants do fine when laid out on a towel in an area with good air flow and turned occasionally as they dry.
Generally, if you want to harvest the flowers, do so in the early morning. You can hang the stems to dry. Once the flowers are completely dried, you can “garble” these and the leaves off the stems by stripping them with your hands. If you’re in a very humid area, consider using a dehydrator, as some flowers with fleshy receptacles can mold easily.
If its the leaves you’re after, these can be harvested any time during the growing season (generally speaking), and dried similarly to the flowers.
Roots are usually dug up in the fall, then cleaned well. Chop them to the size you like, then dry them completely. I lay mine out on drying racks. You can also use a dehydrator to speed things up a bit.
To store your herbs, always keep them in a tightly closed glass container in a cool, dark place for best quality. Heat, moisture, oxygen, and light all degrade fragile dried plants.
How to Blend and Brew Your Herbal Tea
Blending teas is an art form in and of itself. You can certainly follow a recipe like many of the recipes I’ve left here. You can also just practice combining flavors you like and see how the tea emerges.
Honestly, it’s just plain fun to go pick your fresh herbs and brew up a cup of tea with these!
Here are some articles that can get you started blending and brewing your herbal teas:
How to Formulate Medicinal Tea Blends
How to Make the Perfect Herbal Tea Infusion Any Time
Generally, for herbal teas made with dried herbs, you need between one and three teaspoons per two cups of water. Allow to steep in just boiled water for 15-20 minutes. Strain off the herbs and enjoy. For “hard” plant parts like seeds, roots, and barks, you’ll want to decoct your herbs, which means to simmer them for 15-30 minutes. The links above can give you more information about this!
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Final Thoughts About Growing a Tea Garden
Do you love to garden? Do you love herbal tea? Or maybe you’re looking for ways to increase the use of and enjoy the plants you have growing? Well, growing a tea garden is a great way to start looking at your own garden for possible plants you can enjoy in a cup of herbal tea.
There are many links in this article to others I’ve written in the past four years. I hope you’ll go and explore my website and also my YouTube channel for more inspiration and ways to use herbs and essential oils, as well as live a natural, healthy life!
Hugs, Health, and Self-Reliance,
Heidi
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Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor—-I’m a practicing herbalist and certified professional aromatherapist. In no manner is any statement meant to treat, cure, diagnose, or prevent any disease or illness.