Chamomile Dreams in Plano

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I left town for almost 2 months at the very beginning of Spring and when I returned from the well-known Sunshine State I was eager to get back to wok on my gardens. As Leo Tolstoy once said,

Spring is the time of plans and projects. Especially if you are a gardener.

And especially if you have a checklist you would like to accomplish before the triple digits.

So when my feet hit my property back in Plano, I could see the intense amount of work in front of me but I could also see the seeds that I had sown over last few months.

 

Chamomile Dreams in Plano

One of the fruits of my labor was beckoning me in with its fragrant sweet apple-ish scent.

Chamomile, the “apple on the ground”, is a beautiful  low-maintenance, wispy,  daisy-like flowers. It smells good, its one of my first flowers/herbs to bloom in March plus it has amazing medicinal purposes.

I don’t even feel like I can take much credit for this year’s harvest as Chamomile is known to self seed.

At least this is true for German Chamomile.

Chamomile is perhaps the most famous in tea form. Its blossoms have a unique, calming aroma when brewed that’s believed to ease anxiety and depression while also providing a good night’s sleep.

A shockingly very good night of deep sleep.

Who wouldn’t want that?

For tea, just use a spoon like this one

or these beautiful tea infusers that are just stunning.

 

Here’s another way I use the chamomile:

I have a stash of Ball jars and repurposed jars in my house.

I take about 1/4 cup of chamomile, add it to a jar, pour in filtered water from my Berkey.

Then I will set it out in the sun to let it do its thing.

After 24 – 48 hours, I’ll take the jar and place in the fridge.

You now have either iced chamomile tea or a fabulous hair rinse. I use so many different herbal rinses for my hair as I keep my products as natural and organic as possible. A chamomile hair rinse:

 

In the garden, the plant has a wild flower look, with thin white petals and dome-shaped, sunny yellow centers. Each chamomile flower is actually an inflorescence, meaning it’s made up of multiple, closely-clustered flowers (like a sunflower or zinnia). They also smell like apples and add a sweetness to the air every time I stroll by.

 

Many gardeners grow chamomile as companion plants. Their scent deters common pests and fights bacteria and infection. Chamomile also attracts pollinators and beneficial insects.

This year I focused on adding plants to my garden that would deter bunnies and bugs.

After being in intense work mode for 2 months straight while caregiving for my parents, I relished in the beauty of this chamomile and am so grateful to be back, living a simple and gentle life with my dogs and my garden as the most demanding areas of my life.

I have been out daily to my chamomile garden to harvest as much as possible since I know that once the dial on the summer guage is turned up, the chamomile Plano season will be over.

So into the gardens I go, apron wrapped around me to carry my garden shears, my phone so I can listen to the White Lotus channel on Spotify and indulge myself in the generosity of my garden.

As we live continue to live in Plano, I think about the 10 acre property I’d like to live on.

 

Something I always keep in mind that a beautiful life ‘isn’t dependent on where you live, but how you choose to engage with it.