Sunday, February 28, 2010

Chrysanthemum Tea Plants

chrysanthemum tea plants
They're here! After 2 years of searching and an open plea to my readers, I finally have 4 of my very own chrysanthemum tea plants. They arrived last week from Companion Plants, a medicinal plant nursery located in Athens, Ohio. I don't know of any other commercial source for this plant in the United States.

Hopefully they will grow well for me this summer and bloom in the fall. The flowers are what is harvested, dried and then brewed into tea. Again, I have to thank Michelle of From Seed to Table fame for finding Companion Plants.

For me, part of the thrill in gardening is being able to grow interesting plants that are not widely cultivated in my area. I feel really lucky to have this one.

19 comments:

  1. Fun! Hopefully they grow well and you get a good harvest for the fall!

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  2. That is so exciting! They're cute, too...

    What does the tea taste like? I may have to go to our local asian market and try some for myself!

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  3. Oh, you have found it! It must be very rare plant when you have found it in only one place in all US.

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  4. You got them! I'm really looking forward to seeing them grow, keep us posted. I hope they do well for you.

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  5. I've heard of the tea so many times. It is amazing that they are so hard to find here. I hope they grow well for you.

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  6. congratulations! will be fun to watch the coveted plants grow!

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  7. Oh they look really sweet - hope they make good tea for you!

    Has the weather settled down now and have you managed to repair your hoop houses? It sounds like it's been pretty grim weatherwise for you, but at least you know spring is on its way! :)

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  8. Lovely! You must feel very fulfilled. I just drank this tea at dim sum yesterday. Stronger that I expected but refreshing. Perfect of a windy day.

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  9. Pretty soon you'll have your own tea farm, these plants propagates easily from stems, that will help your itchy fingers in the winter.

    PF and I also bought the same plants, there are 3 of us growing it, plenty of backups in case some plants decided to go MIA.

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  10. Bloggers are great at helping out in a pinch, aren't they? I should put out a plea for volunteers to relieve my area of some superfluous snow.

    Christine in Alaska

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  11. What a fun project to grow out these plants. I hope they flourish for you and give you lots of tea as a reward for your efforts.

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  12. Hi Tomas,
    I enjoy your blog very much. Thanks for all your writings.
    Question: where did you buy those tall plastic pots?

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  13. Hi Tomas, just wondering how your Chrysanthemum Tea Plants have been growing? I'm planning to get some plants too from Companion Plants. Thanks very much for this very useful information. Happy Gardening. Changsong

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  14. I'm also curious how the plants have turned out. Looking forward to your reply, Tomas.

    Also, while searching for seeds, I saw that through Companion Seeds, they quoted me $13.50 just for shipping (+$5 for the seeds). I looked on Amazon and found that with shipping, my order was just 51 cents: http://www.amazon.com/YELLOW-CHRYSANTHEMUM-Morifolium-Flower-Seeds/dp/B004YNK8JM/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_1

    If I'm not mistaken, the morifolium variety is the one for making tea.

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  15. Tony: I looked at the link and I'm not sure whether the plants sold at Amazon is the tea type. There is no mention of tea in the product description. I doubt morifolium is still a big category. The shipping cost from companion Seeds is a bit high ($11 for me since I'm at east), but they garantee a true tea type. The only other source I found is horizonherbs and their plants are more costly

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  16. https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/product/chrysanthemum-chinese-bo-ju-hua-chrysanthemum-morifolium-potted-plant-organic/ <<<< I brought a plant from them and I am very pleased. Healthy plants that are now covered with blossoms and smell fantastic. I also live in Upstate NY and these can survive the winter here

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