Planning The Garden For Summer Iced Green Tea Enjoyment

Now that Spring is slowly arriving on the east coast, my thoughts inevitably turn to this summers garden. Specifically what herbs and vegetables i will be growing this season.

Whatever I choose, there are a few staples I always plant because they are integral to my summer green tea sipping experience.

There are three plants that always make it into a sunny spot in my garden. They are Mint, Lavender and Pineapple Sage.

A couple fresh leaves muddled into a glass of iced green tea adds instant natural flavor to any glass. Lets take a look at each of these flavor enhancers.

Mint (Mentha)

Mint is a perennial all-star of iced tea flavors. It is bold and easy to grow. Some say too easy in fact. Mint can get very aggressive, spreading by underground runners and before you know it, mint can take over a garden. I suggest planting it in a large plastic container above ground or sinking the container into the ground so that an inch or so remains uncovered. You will still want to watch for branches that try to escape the confinement, but this method will limit the aggressive nature of most mint species.

I often plant three varieties: Apple Mint, which like the name states has an underlying apple flavor that compliments the mint and teat flavors, Lemon Mint, which combines the two all time popular flavors added to iced tea, and Spearmint, the juggernaut of mint leaves. Kentucky Colonel is a large variety of spearmint with strong robust flavor.

Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans)

Unless you are lucky enough to live in an area where you can grow your own pineapples, this sage may just be the next best thing for flavoring your iced green tea. It has a distinct flavor of pineapple to its leaves and best of all, you do not have to peel it like you do a large pineapple to get the flavors into your iced tea. A few leaves will give your iced tea a unique pineapple flavor.

Pineapple sage is a shrub so it should be planted in a sunny spot about 18 inches apart and not in front of anything you want to be able to see as it will get over three (3) feet tall.

Lavender (Lavandula)

Lavender is the herb of romance and makes a great enhancer to iced green tea. Lavender is a hardy plant that is drought resistant. In fact the thing that kills more Lavender plants than anything is wet roots, not cold or drought. Plant it in well drained soil and to enhance the flavor of the Lavender oils try to find and Alkaline and chalky soil. It is Hardy to Zone 5 but thrives in warmer climates.

With these three herbs you can have a endless supply of fresh and natural flavor enhancers for your iced green tea. You can put a few leaves into a freshly brewed container and let them sit or you can put a few leaves in each glass as you enjoy your iced green tea. To release more flavor, muddle the leaves a bit before introducing the tea to release the oils.

Also try mixing it up a little bit. How does a pineapple apple mint iced Green tea sound?