Chamomile to be Revealed

Chamomylle

is very agreeing unto

the nature of man,

and is good against weariness

-William Turner, 1551

Mr. Turner was an English naturalist and an early herbalist.  The guy is known as the father of English botony and he was keen to study plants in their native habitat.

Which isn't here.  But you wouldn't know it to look around my garden.

Last year I threw down some chamomile seed here and there among some of the bare spots in my planter boxes and pots.  It grew quite well and soon bare spots were no more.  It's a shame to say that I only made tea from one batch -- the rest of the plants just grew...and grew...and grew...and eventually went to seed.  I had every good intention (as all good gardeners do) of collecting all the seeds and storing them properly (more on that soon) to use judiciously the following year.

Enter 'following' year:

and

and

and

...well, you get the idea.  It's everywhere.  Those wee seeds were never collected and instead dispersed themselves quite thoroughly within my fence's borders.  In fact, I uprooted at least a dozen plants and moved them to the parking strip and front yard. (Some less fortunate seedlings took a swan dive into the compost bin.)  

I figured I had little to lose - and apparently a lot more chamomile to gain.  The herbs are doing just fine at their new locations.  And much of it will be ready to harvest in a very short while. 

And much like last year, I intend to use it. 

Did you know that just ONE home-dried flower can give more flavor than a tea bag of the commercial variety??? 

Hm. 

That's a lot of tea.