Tips on growing your own tea garden

Master Gardener Ellyn Pelikan shares some advice for aspiring tea gardeners:

Mints: Shade to semi-shade, loose moist soil. Mints are rampant growers, so consider growing them in pots.

Lemon Verbena: Shrub grows to 5 feet. Likes sun, light, well-drained soil. Makes a nice hot or iced tea.

Pineapple Sage: Likes sun or semi-shade and drier soil. It's not fussy and grows to 2 feet tall. Produces red blossoms. Great for iced tea. Add a spear of pineapple and a tall iced tea spoon.

Rosemary: Likes sun and loose soil. Requires little water once established. Shrubby and very hardy. Great winter tea with a splash of milk, honey and crushed fennel seeds.

Tea garden tips

Try mixing different herbs together. If the scents mingle well, so will the flavors.

A splash of fruit juice turns an herb tea into an herb punch.

Perfect cup of tea

1. Fill a kettle with fresh clean water and begin to heat.

2. Pour hot water into a china, stoneware, or glass teapot to preheat it.

3. Once the pot is warmed, pour hot water out and add herbs of your choice.

4. When kettle comes to a rolling boil remove from heat, pour over herbs in teapot and let steep 3-7 minutes or to taste.

5. Stir tea in pot before pouring. Add honey, sugar and milk to taste. Don't use cream as it can curdle some brews.

The tea table

Cover your table with a crisp pretty cloth and add a small vase of flowers. Use your best cups, plates and silverware, including a sugar shell, sugar tongs and tiny milk pitcher.

BEST PLANTS FOR AN HERBAL TEA GARDEN

Master Gardener Janet Barocco offers her choices:

Mints (Mentha spp): spearmint, peppermint, chocolate, orange, apple, "Mojito," Kentucky, Bergamot. Mint can be invasive. Best to grow in containers.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): If allowed to flower, reseeds freely in garden.

Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla): Frost tender; dies back in winter but re-emerges in spring (in Sonoma County) if mulched well. Good in containers, too. Makes great hot or iced tea.

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus): Frost tender. Best grown in pots and taken indoors in winter.

Chamomile, German (Matricaria recutita): Dry the daisy-like flowers.

Anise hyssop (Agastache Foeniculum): Licorice flavor/ leaves. Pretty blue flower attracts bees.

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana): Sweetener. Frost tender. Grow in pots and move to protected area in winter.

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans): Leaf has fruity flavor

Rosa spp: Rose petals, fresh or dried. Dried rose hips add color, tartness and Vitamin C.

Violets (Viola odorata), Lavender (Lavanduala spp), Ginger (Zingiber): Can grow in containers, but needs heat and is very frost tender. Buy organically grown and use it fresh.