Relaxation Garden Plan
Calming herbs such as lavender and chamomile make this Relaxation Garden a prime place to visit at the end of a stressful day.
By Marietta Marshall Marcin
Teas to soothe, teas to relieve, teas to rejuvenate—Herbal Tea Gardens (Storey Publishing, 1999) contains everything you need to know to grow, blend and brew healthful and delicious herbal teas. You’ll find more than 100 tea recipes, as well as 22 illustrated garden plans. Design this Relaxation Garden to unwind in a peaceful setting with a cup of calming tea. Find more herbal tea garden plans in 3 Herbal Tea Gardens for Health and Well-Being.
You can purchase this book from the Mother Earth Living store: Herbal Tea Gardens.
These calming herbs provide all the ingredients you’ll need to make relaxing teas. You could even place a comfortable chair or chaise longue right near this portion of your garden and sip calming tea there!
Make this garden your place of relaxation with a variety of soothing scents, shapes, and flowers. Lay flagstones as a long walkway between two small gardens, perhaps with a slightly wider section where you can put a bench or chaise longue on which to sit and relax. A row of fragrant lavender follows the shape of the walkway and forms the edge of a border of oregano, lemon verbena, hibiscus, catnip, chamomile, and borage. These surround a central linden tree, which, in early summer, will produce aromatic yellow flowers.
On the other side of the walkway, plant mullein, lemon verbena, sage, and borage. To add color and scent, add a few containers herbs of choice on either side of the walkway.
Relaxation Garden Plants
• Borage 2
• Catnip 1
• Chamomile 1
• Hibiscus 1
• Lemon verbena 4
• Lavender 10 to 14
• Potted herbs of your choice 4
• Mullein 3 to 5
• Oregano 1
• Sage 1
* Number indicates quantity of plants needed
Time to Unwind Tea Recipe
This is a good tea to drink, to both aid digestion and help you go to sleep.
• 1 teaspoon crushed dill seed
• 1 teaspoon chamomile flowers
• 1 teaspoon dried lavender leaves
1. Mix herbs. Infuse 1 teaspoon mixture in 1 cup boiling water. Steep 5 to 8 minutes, or to taste.
Excerpted from Herbal Tea Gardens © Marietta Marshall Marcin, illustrations © Laura Tedeschi used with permission from Storey Publishing. Buy this book from our store: Herbal Tea Gardens.