If you want to use different teas to ease ailments or enhance wellbeing, these ones are reputed to have special properties.

Echinacea: Buds for immune support. Milk thistle: Buds for detoxification. Angelica: Root for digestive support. Catnip: Leaves for calming. Raspberry: Leaf for female reproductive support. Lavender: Buds for calming and soothing. Nettles: Leaf for detoxifying and nourishing. Red clover: Buds for purifying and detoxifying. Dandelion: Root for liver support and a blood tonic. Lemongrass: Stalk for calming, relaxing digestive.

Whether they work or not, your guess is as good as mine. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest they do. And whatever their efficacy, they’re interesting to grow, fun to process and good to drink.

My recipe for herbal tea

Put the kettle on to boil with just the amount of water you need. Look out the window at something pretty until it’s boiling.

Measure a quantity of dried or fresh herbs into a heat-proof container, leaving plenty of room for the water. Pour the boiling water over the herbs, soaking them thoroughly.

Cover the container with a lid or other cover so the herbal properties don’t evaporate.

Do something more useful than looking out the window for 10 minutes while the tea infuses.

Strain the infusion into a cup and throw the herbs in the compost. Drink. Relax. Experience. Enjoy.