Anise makes a great addition to your tea garden!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Plant each plant about  6 inches apart so they have room to grow and can be moved about by the wind.

If you’d like to harvest the seeds, use them when they turn brown. If you’d like to use the leaves, it’s best to harvest them when they’re still green.

Anise is used culinarily in candies, cookies, drinks, soups, salads, and granishes.

Medicinally, anise is used to help with gas, digestion, and as a breath freshener. 

Basil is a fast growing, leafy, green annual that’s a member of the mint family. (All members of the mint family have a square stem.) Its flowers are white or lavender, and there is a lot of variety out there, so be experimental!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Basil likes its leaves to be “pinched” a few times a week to promote new growth and to help it become bushier. 

Plant basil 12 inches apart and in full, blazing sun.

Basil will reseed itself, but it does take awhile, so be patient.

Honey bees adore the blossoms of a basil plant, so consider letting it go to “seed” and watch the bees make themselves at home in your garden!

Culinarily, basil is used in lots of dishes. Try it in eggs, soups. stews, teas, and in lots of italian recipes. 

Medicinally, basil is used to clear sinuses and to aid in digestion and constipation. It may also be used in a warm bath to loosen sore muscles. It may be chewed and then placed on a bug bite to relieve itching, and it also used as a breath freshener.

Bee Balm is in the mint family, you can tell because it has a square stem. It’s a beautiful herb with reddish veins and dense clusters of red, pink, or lilac flowers.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Grow bee balm in the full sun and moderately rich soil.

Bee balm is a good plant for dividing; you can do so once the plants become 15 inches or taller. This is a good way to spread the plant around your yard, but also a good way to share your plants with your neighbors.

Bee balm is a great attractant for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, so plant away and watch the pollinator party happen in your yard!

Historically, bee balm was hugely popular in the North Eastern United States. When the colonists refused to drink the British tea, they steeped the plentiful bee balm as an herbal alternative.

Try cutting and drying your bee balm, it makes lovely dried flowers!

Culinarily, bee balm flowers are used in jams, jellys, teas, and salads. 

Medicinally, bee balm is used in tea form to help with headaches, sore throats, nausea, cramps, and insomnia.

Calendula plants have slightly hairy leaves which are arranged up the stem in a fascinating spiral. The flowers range from pastel yellow to dark orange, and everything in between.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Calendula easily starts from seed if you plant them in warm, well drained soil. It prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade.

Once your plant is established, it will reseed itself year after year.

Harvest your calendula flowers to bring them inside for a lovely arrangement, and remember to remove the dead flowers to help promote new growth and continuous blooming.

Calendula flowers make a great fabric dye and also makes a great addition to your tea garden!

Culinarily, calendula is used in soups, rice, cookies, and vinegars.

Medicinally, calendula is made into a tea to “bring on the sweats.”  If you infuse an ointment with calendula you can use it to soothe a minor abrasion, bruise, and even varicose veins.  Calendula was used anciently as a topical antibiotic, with many people still using it today.

Caraway plants are so delicate with their carrot-like leaves and small, white flowers.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Caraway is a member of the parsley family, so it’s easy to sow directly from seed, straight into the warm spring soil, just make sure to keep them about 6 inches apart.

Many people use the seeds of the caraway plant, but know that the seeds won’t form until midway through its 2nd  growing season.

While you’re waiting for those seeds, feel free to use its leaves and roots all through the summer and fall.

Culinarily, caraway is used in soups, stews, teas, breads, and cakes. The seeds are high in fiber, iron, copper, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc, and magnesium.

Medicinally, caraway seeds are eaten to regulate constipation. It has also been known to reduce the absorption of salt. Historically it has been brewed into a tea to soothe bronchitis. Caraway is also full of Vitamins C, A, and E.

Catnip is a member of the mint family. It’s surprisingly been used by humans and cats since the 11th Century.

It’s a lovely herb with small, purple flowers and fuzzy, heart-shaped, tooth-edged leaves.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Catnip is most prevalent and grows abundantly wild in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington State.

Catnip grows easily from seed if planted in full to partial sun. Plant your catnip  12”-18” apart.

Harvest it when the leaves and flowers are mature and hang the cuttings in a cool, dry place to dehydrate.

Medicinally, catnip flowers have been used in a weak tea to help soothe a stomach ache, to promote rest, releive constipation, and to relieve headaches.

Catnip essential oil can be used as an insect repellant.

Catnip is a stimulant to all members of the cat family. Cats respond to the scent of it; the scent is more powerful to them than actually eating it.

Chamomile is a tealovers favorite, and it’s so easy to grow yourself.

It has small, dark green leaves and white flowers with delicate yellow centers. If you brush by your chamomile, you’ll notice that the foliage is very aromatic to the touch.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Plant your chamomile in full sun, and thin to 6 inches apart.

Note: People with ragweed allergies may be sensitive to chamomile.

Culinarily, chamomile is traditonally used in herbal teas.

Medicinally, chamomile can be used for eczema, heat rash, cuts, sunburn, insomnia, mood swings, and digestion.

Chamomile is a tealovers favorite, and it’s so easy to grow yourself.

Chamomile has small, dark green leaves and white flowers with delicate yellow centers. If you brush by your chamomile, you’ll notice that the foliage is very aromatic to the touch.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Plant your chamomile in full sun, and thin to 6 inches apart.

Note: People with ragweed allergies may be sensitive to chamomile.

Culinarily, chamomile is traditonally used in herbal teas.

Medicinally, chamomile has be used for eczema, heat rash, cuts, sunburn, insomnia, mood swings, and digestion.

Cilantro is an annual herb, and also goes by the names Chinese parsley and coriander. Cilantro can be found in almost every cuisine, and is so easy to grow; give it a try!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Cilantro is a cool season herb and doesn’t tolerate heat in any way. It does however need full sun to keep from getting “leggy.” Transplants are very easy to find and need to be planted about 10 inches apart. Cilantro may also be grown from seed directly into your fall garden bed.

The entire plant is edible, so harvest the leaves, the stems, and the mature seeds (coriander.)

To encourage new growth and bushy-ness, cilantro appreciates a good “pinching” at least once a week. 

Culinary Uses: Cilantro is delicious in most mexican dishes, salads, salsa and guacamole. Cilantro is also a great addition to curries and salad dressings.

Medicinally, coriander seeds can be made into a mild tea and used for cramping and digestion.  Cilantro essential oil has been used for muscular aches and pains, and stress. Eating cilantro leaves can also be used as a natural, internal deodorant

Clary sage has one of the most beautiful flowers ever! It has soft, wooly/downy leaves that are quite striking at 4-8 inches long.

This impressive plant will easily reach 4 feet tall. 

Its pinkish-blue flowers grow in clusters on a long spike and are quite stunning!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Plant your clary sage from seed, 24” apart, and in full sun.

It will produce a lot of seeds for reseeding and sharing.

Coneflower is also known as Echinacea. It is native to the United States and used extensively among Native Americans to treat snake bites, soothe a toothache, and to heal wounds.

It will grow up to 4 feet tall and has a thick root called a rhizome.

It has beautiful pointed, lance shaped leaves with deep pink daisy-like flowers with a raised conical center. (Light-pink and white are sometimes available)

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Coneflowers grow mostly in the wild, and need well drained soil and like to be planted in full sun or partial shade.

They easily plant from seed, but also can be planted by dividing its roots.

Regularly cutting back the faded flowers will encourage new blossoms to emerge.

If you’re planting a tea garden, consider planting coneflower!

Dill grows into a tall herb with feather-like greenery and umbrella shaped flowers.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Sow your dill seeds in a sunny location. Once they come up, thin them to 12” apart. If you let the seeds mature and fall off it will come back year after year.

Dill is a member of the parsley family and you may use the seeds, leaves, and stems.

Fennel is a beautiful herb with fine, feathery, anise flavored leaves and a bulblike base.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Plant your seeds in full sun and in loose soil. 

You can scatter your fennel seeds in spring and thin them to 12” apart.

Your fennel will attract lots of bees and butterflies to your yard.

If you’re planting a tea garden, make sure and plant yourself some feverfew!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Fever Few is a bushy herb that grows up to 3 ft tall, likes the full sun, and is very drought tolerant. 

Its dark, downy, green leaves are citrus scented and it is such a fun addition to your herb garden.

The small, white, daisy-like flowers are adorable and they are the only part of the plant that is edible.

Ginger is a tropical, perennial rhizome that grows annual stems.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Ginger likes to grow in damp, well composted soil, and prefers the shade, so don’t let your ginger’s soil dry out.

Since it is tropical, it doesn’t tolerate the cold at all, so do your best to create a protection for it in the winter.

Ginger is of course great if you’re planting a tea garden!

Lavender bushes are a shrubby evergreen, native to the Mediterranean.  The word lavender comes from the Latin word “lavare,” meaning “to wash.”

There are 80 known species of lavender, so chances are, there’s one that grows well wherever you live.

Both the leaves and blooms are highly aromatic.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Lavender grows well from seeds or cuttings and should be planted in full sun and very loose soil. (To loosen your soil up, try adding some sand to your existing soil.)

Lavender grows up to 3 feet tall, but benefits being cut back hard in the late spring.

Consider planting lavender in your teagarden!

Lemon Balm is a lemon scented, vigorous grower that prefers full sun. It’s a member of the mint family, (you can tell by the square stem,) and can get quite large. It dies back every year, but comes back stronger and fuller each year. It has crinkley, dull-green leaves with white blossoms. Insects love this plant, so plant this in a few spots in your garden to attract the pollinators.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Lemon Balm requires very little care on your part, so it makes an easy, kid friendly plant.

Plant your seeds or transplants about 2 feet apart in moderately composted soil. Water it twice a week for the first month, and then after that, lemon balm will require very little from you. I water my well established, 4 year old lemon balm about once a month.

Makes a lovely tea if used fresh.

Lemon Grass is a fun, fast growing, and beautiful herb to grow. It makes a great, large mound of green grass, and is stunning in your herb garden, or any bed in your yard. 

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Lemon Grass is not drought tolerant, so make sure that you plant it in a place where you’ll remember to water it. Give your lemon grass transplants about 3 feet of space, and watch how it fills out rather quickly!

Lemon Grass needs about an inch of water each week, and is very hot or windy climates may need up to 3 inches each week.  Lemon grass doesn’t over-winter well, but if you dig it up and put it in a pot and bring it inside for the winter, you can put it back outside next spring.

Definitely plant lemon grass if you’re planning a tea garden!

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Lemon Verbena requires very little care, and really grows best with minimal attention.

It gets quite large, so they need about 2 feet to spread out.

If you have a tea garden, lemon verbena is a winner!

Oregano has been around forever! The Romans planted it near their deceased’s tombs, as they believed it brought joy to the dead. It was also woven into bridal wreaths to bring the couple happiness.  In medieval times it was used in straw bedding because of its strong aroma.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

There are a few varieties of oregano, some of them are tall, bushy, and grow up to 2 feet tall. Some varieties are low growing and make a great ground cover.

Plant your oragano about 3 feet a part in well draining, mediocre soil.

Oregano has highly aromatic oval leaves and pinkish flowers.

If you’d like to encourage pollinators to your garden, bees love it!

Oregano dries well for longer term storage and use.

The word “parsley” means “rock celery” and it is a member of the celery family.

It’s charmingly known as an herb, a spice, and a vegetable.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Parsley is categorized in 2 ways, curly leaf or flat leaf. Both varieties have dark, green foliage.

Parsley starts easily from seed in the early spring and needs to be thinned to 8” apart. Transplants are also a great way to go.

Parsley has a long growing season, so you may harvest from it all summer long.

It likes to be “pinched” regularly and does very well in pots.

Peppermint is another herb that’s been around for a long time. The Romans made and wore wreaths of peppermint during their feasts.

Peppermint is actually a hybrid of 2 species of mint, water mint and spearmint.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Peppermint is a tough plant that can survive almost anything. It is considered invasive and has creeping roots. It’s smart to contain peppermint to a pot, as it will take over any bed it’s growing in.

In summer it will flower with pretty pink blooms.

Peppermint likes damp, heavy soil, but will grow well in anything.

It’s very adaptive and likes full sun and tolerates shade quite well.

You can harvest it all summer and dry it for winter use.

If you have a tea garden, peppermint is a must!

Rosemary translates to “dew of the sea,” and originated in the Mediterranean.

It was and is used in bridal wreaths and bouquets, is burned as incense, and is often used as fragrant Christmas decorations.

Rosemary has a beautiful, dark green foliage, and small bluish or pink flowers.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Give rosemary some room by planting it 2 feet apart.

Rosemary seeds germinate very slowly, so for quicker results it’s best to plant from a transplant. 

Give rosemary room to grow tall, too, as it can grow up to 4 feet tall.

Honey bees love the blossoms that bloom in the winter, as there’s not a lot for them to eat during the cold months.

Rosemary does need full sun and you may harvest from it all year long. If you’d like to use it for its aroma, its oils are most prevalent in July and August.

Rosemary may be strong, but it makes a lovely addition to your tea garden.

The word “sage” is latin for “to save,” or to “be in good health.”

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Sage is an evergreen, highly aromatic shrub that grows up to 2 feet tall.

It has woody stems and velvety grey-green leaves.  Its blooms are purple or blue and very attractive to bees!!

You can harvest your sage all year long, but it is most aromatic in August.

The word “tarragon” is french for “dragon’s herb” because its roots are coiled and resemble a snake.

The french variety of tarragon is the most commonly available, but a little search around town may result in some interesting varieties.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Tarragon prefers well drained soil and full sun.

It’s rather hard to grow from seed, so transplants are the way to go. Plant around 12” apart.

The best time to harvest tarragon leaves is when the flowers just begin to appear, but can be harvested all year long.

Tarragon drys well for future use and storage.

The word “thyme” is greek for “courage,” and the Romans used it as a fumigator and as an antiseptic.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Thyme grows great from seed if it is planted in the full sun and in well drained soil. Thin your seedlings to 12 inches apart, and watch as it grows about 18 inches tall.

Thyme has dark, aromatic leaves, and beautiful spikes of pink flowers.

There are many varieties available, and bees, butterflies, and insects love all of them!

Harvest your thyme all year long.

Yarrow has many old names: Old Man Pepper, Soldier’s Woundwort, Bloodwort, and Staunch Weed.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS

Yarrow grows 12 inches tall and has gray-green feathery leaves attached to very tall stems.

It will spread rapidly through self seeding and creeping roots, so consider growing it in a pot to help avoid aggressive growing.

The red and yellow varieties are ornamental only and should not be used as an herb.

Plant yarrow to get the pollinators into your yard!

email: wildhoneygardens@gmail.com

Liberty Hill, TX

832.279.2972