Rue's Garden Herbals

The other day I was reading a pamphlet called Blending Herbal Teas put out by The Essential Herbal and one person had an interesting thing she did. Over the course of time she took herbs from her garden, dried them and put them into a gallon jar. Just threw in whatever was available. Then she took out enough herbs for a cup of tea and each cup was different. When her friends came over they looked forward to finding out what their tea tasted like and every time it was a new experience. I think that's a great idea.

I am revisiting why many people can't grow lavender. I live in a zone 9 area so it's not too cold (rarely below freezing) and not too humid, but pretty hot in summer. Lavender loves to grow in my backyard but even here I meet people who have trouble keeping it alive. But I'm reading that lavender really hates humidity and wet foliage. And if plants are planted too close together the foliage can't get dry enough. It's best to space the plants out and get them as much sun as possible, especially if you live in a humid area. Lavender doesn't take a lot of care but it does need well-drained soil. It grows very well in pots so sometimes it could be brought indoors into air conditioning and dried out (that's my idea, I've never tried it). Also, there are many kinds of lavender and if one kind doesn't grow for you another kind might. You might check your local nursery for different varieties. The gal who was sharing this information is Michele Brown at PossumCreekHerb.com and she lives in Tennessee. So many things to learn!