One of the lesser known but truly essential herb garden plants, lemon verbena commonly grows to about 1.5 to 2m tall with a wide spread. Our 30 year old lemon verbena now dwarfs the house and needs frequent trimming. The pale green leaves make a lovely showing and afford shade to smaller plants. Standing close to the plant will immediately reveal the origin of its name.

Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla) is just one of the special herbs cultivated on the Greek Island of Crete. Crete is of course home to the Cretan Diet which has been scientifically proven as the healthiest diet in the world and is a close cousin of the Mediterranean diet.Lemon Verbena is a small deciduous perennial shrub renowned for its citrus lemony fragrance, and smells wonderful. When crushed, the leaves of this wonderfully fragrant plant give off a gorgeous lemon citrus aroma.

Although unrelated to lemons, lemongrass has a distinctive aroma of lemons, due to the fact that it shares a number of chemical constituents in its essential oil, including citral, citronellol, and geraniol. A number of other herbs, also unrelated, have similar lemony aromas because they share various concentrations of these same chemicals; these herbs include lemon balm, lemon verbena, and lemon myrtle. Fascinatingly, many of these "lemony" chemicals are responsible for the medicinal properties of these plants.

Another category is the aromatic herbs which have pleasant smelling flowers or foliage. These herbs can be used in linens or clothing to give them a nice scent. Some herbs are dried and used as potpourri to scent the air. Lavender and lemon verbena are good for this. Oils from some aromatic herbs, like rosemary and mint are used to make perfume.

The benefits of herbal teas go beyond fresh, invigorating taste. By controlling the growing environment, you can make sure your teas are fresh, pesticide and herbicide free, and processed without additives. They cost next to nothing, just your initial investment in seeds or seedlings. Many of the herbs you grow can be used in a variety of ways, as aromatics, in cooking, as natural remedies, and, of course, for teas.

As most of the projects here are for sachets or other items where the herbs are hidden away behind some fabric, the look of the finished pot-pourri is not of paramount importance. The main point is that the scent should be strong and long-lasting. When making small sachets it helps to use fairly small ingredients of an even size, so there are no unsightly lumps and bulges in the sachets. The best answer for this is to use small sprigs of dried herbs and flowers with a much larger proportion of fixative.

Calendula's popularity dates back to King Henry VII of England who loved colored food. Calendula was used to season his meals. It also has many other benefits. In particular it is good for digestive health as well as for skin preparations. It can be made into a foot soak or bath herb. To get the most medicinal potency out of it, grow a variety with a high resin content, such as "Resina" found at Johnny's Seeds, a popular online source for medicinal herbs. Calendula is one of the easiest medicinal herbs to grow.

The main difference between black tea and green tea is the oxidation process. Black tea leaves are fully oxidized whereas green tea leaves are lightly steamed before they are dried. This process contributes to the tea's taste as well as caffeine content. Like green tea, black tea has also been shown to have health benefits. Research has suggested that the antioxidants found in black tea may play a preventive role in conditions like heart disease, stroke and some cancers.