Chamomile: When life gives you lemons…make tea?
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Unfortunately we can’t even grow lemons here, so then what do you do? When life gets hard what plant do you turn to?
I recommend Chamomile and Lavender. These perennial herbs are an excellent option for bringing down the stresses and strains. Chamomile is well known for its relaxing properties. It is excellent for aromatherapy or for a tea that will help you sleep. Lavender is great for aromatherapy, known for having anxiety and stress relieving properties. Both of these plants you can use either the leaves or the blossoms for these activities, but their flowers are the best part to use. Though as lovely as lavender is, it is simply an honourable mention as today I would like to focus on chamomile.
Chamomile itself has been around since the time of the great Egyptian empire, being in use for over 2,000 years! The Egyptians used it to make tea to soothe colds. Though Chamomile is best known for helping with sleeplessness, it is also known for helping ease stomach pain, cramping, colds, and many other things.
Chamomile is a very easy herb to use and grow. To use, simply cut off some flowers and leaves and hang them to dry. From there you can grind them up and either steep them to make tea or use them for aromas by placing them in drawers and pillow cases.
As a note, I found in my research that women who are pregnant should not ingest chamomile as it can cause complications. I don’t know if this is clinically proven, but I want to put that warning out there as something to consider and ask your doctor about when using chamomile.
Now the care and growing is fairly easy. Chamomiles love full sun, well drained soil, and lots of room to spread out. Though the plant itself only gets barely a foot wide by a foot and a half tall it is an aggressive spreader by seed, this will guarantee that you always have lots of chamomile.
So in conclusion, when life gives you lemons, make some chamomile tea and let the stresses drain away.