Growing herbs for tea in pots: mint, lemon verbena, chamomile and other favourites

There is a particular kind of pleasure in walking out the kitchen door with a mug in one hand, pinching a few leaves off a pot, and pouring boiling water over them before the kettle has even finished clicking off. No box, no teabag, no waiting for the shops. We drink a lot of tea in this country, and a surprising amount of what goes into a good cup can be grown in a handful of pots on a stoep or a sunny windowsill.

Pots are honestly the better way to do it. Mint will take over a bed if you let it, lemon verbena needs to be somewhere you can protect it from Highveld frost, and chamomile likes a light, free draining soil that most Gauteng clay simply is not. A few containers near the door solve all of that, and they put the plants where you will actually use them. This guide walks through the herbs we get asked about most, how each one behaves in a pot, and how to pick and dry them so you have something in the tin by winter.

Start with mint, but give it its own pot

If you only grow one tea herb, grow mint. Spearmint makes the classic sweet cup, peppermint is sharper and more cooling, and Moroccan mint is the one to use if you like it strong with sugar. All of them are thugs. The runners travel under the soil and come up wherever they please, which is exactly why the RHS guide to growing mint suggests a container rather than open ground. We agree, and we go one further: one mint per pot, never mixed with anything else, because within a season the mint will have eaten its neighbours.

Mint is not fussy about sun. Morning sun and afternoon shade suits it well in our summers, and it will cope with a fair amount of shade if that is all you have. What it does want is water. A mint pot that dries out will scorch at the leaf edges and turn bitter, so it belongs with your thirsty herbs, not with the rosemary. Cut it back hard two or three times a year, right down to a few centimetres, and it will come back fresh and soft every time. Our indigenous wild mint, Mentha longifolia, grows the same way and makes a stronger, more medicinal cup.

Lemon verbena, the one people fall in love with

Lemon verbena is the herb that makes people stop and ask what that smell is. Crush a leaf and it is pure sherbet lemon, far cleaner than lemon balm. It grows as a loose, woody shrub and can reach well over a metre in a big pot over a few summers. It is frost tender, which is the main reason to keep it in a container. On the Highveld it drops all its leaves in winter and looks like a bundle of dead sticks until October. Do not throw it out. Keep the pot dryish, tuck it against a north facing wall, and it will shoot again once the nights warm up. Along the coast it barely pauses.

Give it full sun and a pot with real depth, 30 cm at the very least, because it is a hungry plant that resents drying out at the roots. Feed it with a liquid fertiliser every couple of weeks through summer and pinch the tips constantly. Every pinch is a cup of tea, and the plant only gets bushier for it.

Chamomile from seed, a pot of small daisies

Chamomile is the one tea herb you grow for the flowers rather than the leaves, and it is easiest to think of it as an annual you sow fresh each year. German chamomile is the taller, airier kind that gives the most flowers for tea. Scatter the fine seed over the surface of a wide, shallow pot filled with a light mix, press it in but do not bury it, and keep it moist until the seedlings show. Sow in late summer or early autumn in the warmer parts of the country, or in late winter on the Highveld once the hard frosts are behind you. The RHS chamomile guide covers both the German and the low growing Roman type if you want to compare them.

The flowers open over several weeks. Pick them on a dry morning when the white petals are flat or just starting to droop back. You will need a surprising number for a decent tin, which is why we suggest a wide trough rather than a single small pot. A fresh chamomile brew tastes gently of apple and hay, nothing like the dusty bags in the supermarket.

Lemon balm, and two indigenous teas worth a pot

Lemon balm is the easy one. It grows like mint, tolerates shade like mint, and belongs to the same family, so treat it the same way and keep it on its own. The scent fades on drying, so this is a herb to use fresh, a good handful of leaves bruised in the bottom of the mug.

Once you have those going, look at what grew here before the tea trade arrived. Fever tea or lemon bush, Lippia javanica, is a tough woody shrub found across most of the summer rainfall region. SANBI's PlantZAfrica page on Lippia javanica describes it as a perfect candidate for the herb gardener with an interest in traditional plants, and the aromatic leaves make a lemony, slightly camphor scented cup that has been brewed in rural households for generations. It wants full sun and takes drought well once established. Wilde als, Artemisia afra, is the other classic, though be warned that it is very bitter and traditionally taken in small amounts. Both grow happily in a big pot and give a tea garden a properly South African character.

The pot, the soil and the spot

Tea herbs fall into two camps, and they should not share a pot. Mint, lemon balm and chamomile like steady moisture and some shade. Lemon verbena, fever tea and anything Mediterranean want full sun and fast drainage. Mix them and one is always unhappy. We covered this split in more detail in our guide to a kitchen herb garden in pots, and the same logic applies here.

Depth matters more than width for most of these. Aim for 25 to 30 cm for mint and lemon balm and a deeper 35 to 40 cm for lemon verbena and fever tea, which put down proper roots. A long trough is the most useful shape we know for tea herbs because it gives root room and a wide picking surface, and our concrete troughs are cast from Fibre Concrete Mix so they sit outside in full sun and frost year after year without cracking. Fill them with Bark Outdoor Potting Soil, never garden soil, and stand them on pot feet so water leaves freely and the stoep does not stain.

Watering through a Highveld summer and a dry winter

In a Gauteng summer, a pot in full sun can go from soaked to bone dry in a day and a half, and afternoon thunderstorms do not fill a pot the way they seem to. Poke a finger in every morning. If the top few centimetres are dry, water slowly until it runs out the bottom. Mint and chamomile will want that almost daily in January, lemon verbena and fever tea more like every second or third day. In winter, when the plants are resting, cut right back and let the pot nearly dry out between waterings, especially for the woody herbs, which rot in cold, wet soil. On a balcony, a drip tray under each pot saves the floor.

Picking and drying for the tin

Pick in the morning after the dew has dried but before the heat builds, which is when the oils in the leaves are at their strongest. Take the top third of each stem and the plant will branch below the cut. For drying, the Illinois Extension guide to preserving herbs gives the method we use: rinse, pat dry, tie in loose bunches and hang them somewhere warm, dark and airy, out of direct sun. In our dry Highveld air most herbs crisp up within a week or two; in humid coastal towns give them longer or use a low oven with the door cracked open. Chamomile flowers dry best spread in a single layer on a tray.

Strip the dry leaves off the stems, crumble lightly, and store them in glass jars away from light. Drying concentrates the flavour, so you will use about a third as much dried herb as fresh. Lemon verbena keeps its perfume for a year, mint for six months or so before it fades.

Brewing, and a gentle word on health claims

For a fresh brew, use a generous handful of leaves, bruise them in your hand, and steep in just boiled water for five to seven minutes with a saucer over the mug to hold the oils in. For dried, a heaped teaspoon per cup. Mint with a little lemon verbena is our house favourite, and chamomile with a single leaf of lemon balm is a lovely evening cup.

You will read a great deal online about what these herbs cure. We would rather not add to it. Mint and chamomile have been sipped after meals and before bed for a very long time because people find them settling, and that gentle, traditional use is reason enough. If you are pregnant, on medication or brewing for a child, have a word with a pharmacist first.

If this has you wanting to plant a few, start small. A mint, a lemon verbena and one indigenous shrub in a trough by the kitchen door will give you a different cup every day of the week. Our five easy herbs to grow in pots is a good companion read for the cooking side, and every pot in our herbs and vegetables range is sized and drained for exactly this kind of daily picking.

Frequently asked questions

Which herbs are best for tea in pots?

Mint, lemon verbena, chamomile and lemon balm are the easiest and most rewarding. In South Africa, indigenous fever tea (Lippia javanica) and wilde als (Artemisia afra) also grow well in large pots and make traditional brews.

Can I grow mint and lemon verbena in the same pot?

No. Mint spreads by underground runners and likes constant moisture, while lemon verbena wants full sun and a free draining mix. Each does far better in its own container.

Does lemon verbena survive frost on the Highveld?

It drops its leaves and looks dead through winter, but the roots usually survive if the pot is kept fairly dry and sheltered against a warm wall. New growth appears in spring.

How do I dry herbs for tea at home?

Pick in the morning, rinse and pat dry, tie into loose bunches and hang in a warm, dark, well ventilated spot out of the sun for one to three weeks. Strip the leaves once crisp and store them in glass jars away from light.

How much fresh herb do I use for a cup of tea?

About a loose handful of fresh leaves, bruised, steeped for five to seven minutes in just boiled water. Dried herbs are more concentrated, so a heaped teaspoon per cup is enough.