What are Some Medicinal Teas that Could be Grown in a Forest Garden?

What are Some Medicinal Teas that Could be Grown in a Forest Garden?

Here are some of my favorite teas:

Lavender is one of my favorite teas, especially since it grows in my garden. Lavender tea has a floral taste that is amazing.

The flower and the oil of lavender are used to make medicine. Lavender is commonly used for anxiety, stress, and insomnia. It is also used for depression, dementia, pain after surgery, and many other conditions

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-838/lavender






Lemon Verbena.

Lemon verbena has been used as a medicinal plant for centuries to stop muscle spasms, as a fever reducer and sedative, for indigestion, and to increase appetite, among other indications. Research regarding its medicinal use is limited. The leaves and flowering tops are used in teas and as beverage flavors.

https://www.drugs.com/npc/lemon-verbena.html




Lemon Balm

lemon balm is used in traditional medicine as both a sleep aid and digestive tonic. It can be consumed as a tea, taken as a supplement or extract, or applied to the skin in balms and lotion. Lemon balm essential oil is also popular in aromatherapy, where it is believed to promote calmness and ease stress

https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-health-benefits-of-lemon-balm-89388




Chamomile

As a traditional medicine, it is used to treat wounds, ulcers, eczema, gout, skin irritations, bruises, burns, canker sores, neuralgia, sciatica, rheumatic pain, hemorrhoids, mastitis and other ailments

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/



What teas do you grow?  What are your favorite teas to drink?

One of the things that I have found when asked about designing herb gardens is that lack of use can lead to plants becoming very straggly and overwhelmed by other more vigorous neighbours. So I am always keen in talks and articles to emphasise the planning of designs that will be harvested either repeatedly or at least seasonally. Growing for herb teas is an ideal way to ensure that plants are being harvested. So I have designed a handout list of around 30 suggestions for herb teas that can be grown in a UK temperate climate. Please feel free to pass on but I would appreciate credit to Holt Wood Herbs. Bear in mind that most of these herb teas do need light so, as we have done at Holt Wood herbs, lots of edges are needed in designs! Enjoy!

I see Chaga fungus growing wild on the aspens around here. I'm not sure if I could inoculate for it, or just be happy if it shows up on its own. Tastes like woody dirt, but I've heard many claims of health benefits.
CBC animation: The origin of Chaga

How about making teas from tea leaves?

Pine, cedar (arborvitae), beech, fig...

I have read that sweet chestnut and walnut leaves have medicinal properties but am not certain if these are taken as teas or ?

Anne Stobart wrote:One of the things that I have found when asked about designing herb gardens is that lack of use can lead to plants becoming very straggly and overwhelmed by other more vigorous neighbours.

This is one of the things that I did not understand about rosemary.

I saw people using it it a their kitchen and did not realise when I bought it that it can grow into a bush that is 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide!

Even with me using it for many different things from cooking, mouth wash, etc!

Andrea Locke wrote:How about making teas from tea leaves?

Pine, cedar (arborvitae), beech, fig...

I have read that sweet chestnut and walnut leaves have medicinal properties but am not certain if these are taken as teas or ?

Sorry, I meant TREE leaves!

This makes me think of the things that are already growing in the forests in my area (Missouri) like Nettles which makes an incredibly nourishing bright green herbal tea... Spring things like chickweed and cleaners... Summer things like wild bergamot... Solomons seal is abundant in our woods, but used more topically rather than as a tea. Motherwort I have found growing wild in the woods too. Comfrey is a good one for planting in your grown food forest, it covers alot of ground and is a nitrogen fixer and good useful medicinal!
Gosh theres more but I can't think of them right now! Loving this thread, thanks!

I’ve been looking for medicine for my chickens and rabbits...and I should include myself. Is there a big difference in the use of plants across these three animals?  Could something be good for me, but not my chickens?  This is what I need to learn, and maybe even make some charts for my family. 😊

Oops—I apologize—I posted this in the wrong thread...I’ll see if I can move it. ☹️

Don't forget the mints! I love peppermint, spearmint... I also grow lemon balm and lemony catnip. I also love nettle tea, but haven't grown it myself. And I'm currently drinking tea with dandelion root, although this is from the store.

Passiflora incarnata would probably do well! The leaves and vines can be used for tea that helps with calming and sleep. The flowers can also be used, but contain less of the medicinal compounds.
Make sure you only use incarnata for this; other varieties of passionflower have cyanogenic glycosides which when broken down will quickly release poisonous cyanide.

I like making juice/tea out of Antidesma bunius and turmeric I liked it when it's mix with honey and lemon, drinking it helps me to calm and have a good sleep.

Heidi Schmidt wrote:Don't forget the mints! I love peppermint, spearmint... I also grow lemon balm and lemony catnip. I also love nettle tea, but haven't grown it myself. And I'm currently drinking tea with dandelion root, although this is from the store.

I love dandelion and nettle tea. I like to go out and pick dandelion leaves to put in my tea. It's super easy, and I like the flavor. I also add in thistle leaves when I feel like putting on gloves.

Sweet Cicily grows nicely here, too, and adds a nice licorice/anise flavor.

Goosegrass/cleavers is another one I go and harvest when it's in season (and I can get to it before the geese do!) It grows happy wild around my fruit tress and tucked into hedges and nettle patches.

My favourite tea mix this year has been equal quantities of Nettle and Rose petal, tasty and great for arthritic joints as it is anti-inflammatory and diuretic, and a good base for adding further herbs. Both nettle leaf and rose petals can be challenging to dry well though! It is important not to leave nettle standing around as it deteriorates fast. Pick fresh young leaves and dry in single layers in an airy place. Similarly, spread the fresh rose petals out well. Our drier is a construction of plastic baker’s trays (with perforated bases) and I place a puppy warmer mat underneath to provide a gentle current of air. It works well, producing aromatic dried plant material of good colour within 7-10 days. If we had more sun in UK I would make an  effort to use solar power but our humidity in the South West is often well over 60% so cannot afford to let herbs moulder. Our rose variety of choice is Gertrude Jekyll - it does well in light shade and will climb up through smaller trees /bushes and has superb fragrance, is repeat flowering.

I echo the advice about Mints, for us, they are one of our favorites because they grow fast and abundantly. Also, there are so many varieties out there, that you can fill your tea cupboard (or product line) with variety very quickly. Here are some favorite mints:

Chocolate Mint - actually tastes like what it is, to us anyway.
Banana Mint - amazing taste sort of like synthetic banana flavor, or very fresh real banana
Grapefruit Mint- really enjoying it this winter. Not that minty, but the sweet/bitter of grapefruit comes through
Apple Mint - strong flavor which I love, but some find it too strong.


For more citrusy flavors, the Lemon Balm group is also excellent. I've found Lime Balm and Mandarin Balm (which are just selections of the main species)

Do not try: Cotton Candy Mint. Despite great descriptions, it is simply awful in all ways we've tried using it.

And yes, get the weeds in there too: pineapple weed, stinging/wood nettle, creeping charlie/ground ivy (a bit of a weird flavor, but good when you have a cold, and great for kid's teas).

And elder flower, from your shrub layer, is also an amazing tea.

These are all awesome suggestions. I have 3 additional tea plants to suggest:

1. Cistus Incanus.  This is a potent medicine as well as delicious tea. Cistus incanus is a power anti-microbial and is a go-to herb for those struggling with Lyme’s disease and other resistant infections. It tastes like a cross between black tea and raspberry. I use it as a base for my homemade chai tea.

2. Gynostemma. This is a vining plant that has very similar medicinal properties to ginseng root. It is used throughout China as a daily tea herb. It naturally has a sweet taste. It seems to prefer growing in partial shade, as it naturally grows in forest understories.

3. Yaupon holly. This is the only naturally-caffeinated plant native to North America. It was used like a morning coffee by Native peoples for energy. It tastes similar to Yerba mate. Several companies are popping up trying to re-popularize this awesome plant.

Chris Sturgeon wrote:I see Chaga fungus growing wild on the aspens around here. I'm not sure if I could inoculate for it, or just be happy if it shows up on its own. Tastes like woody dirt, but I've heard many claims of health benefits.
CBC animation: The origin of Chaga

If you are lucky enough to live in the right habitat where chaga is growing, that is awesome! I have no idea about whether that one can be inoculated - I imagine, like anything else, you probably could get it to grow if it has the right conditions.

Turkey tail and reishi fungus make good medicinal teas too. They are commercially available to buy as plugs or sawdust spawn to either drill logs or stack them totem style. We just started some on logs in our forest last fall, so too early to say if they will be successful. Turkey tail grows all over the place in the wild here so I think that one should be fairly easy, although reishi seems more fussy about growing in older forests.

love the jiaogulan/gymnostemma suggestion! grows well in a fair amount of shade, which can be great for forest gardening!

i’d like to add some local twig-based ingredients to the list: sweet birch, spicebush, and sassafras (which is frequently brewed from roots, but the much more easily accessible twigs work too).