Chamomile in the Garden
I’m in the midst of starting my summer seedlings and one staple seed that I rarely go without planting is chamomile. German Chamomile is my favorite herb to grow. To me, it is more aromatic and flavorful than the Roman variety, which makes it nice to incorporate into herbal tea recipes.
German Chamomile is an annual plant, which means that it lives for one growing season and then dies. With that being so, it is necessary to replant the seeds each year. This is one characteristic that distinguishes it from Roman Chamomile, which is a perennial and grows back each year. I have some Roman Chamomile growing in the garden right now and it hails back from two seasons ago. It is always fun to see it pop up again each year after the snow melts and the weathers warms up.
Roman Chamomile grows more like a ground cover so it’s shorter in growth, but it spreads wider. In contrast, German Chamomile is more upright and grows taller. The flowers on Roman Chamomile are generally limited to one per stem, while German Chamomile tends to yield a higher amount of flowers per stem and the flowers are generally larger. At least, that has been my experience as a backyard gardener. I personally, like the appearance of German Chamomile flowers because the pistil (the yellow, middle part) is larger and is so fragrant. Plus, I feel like more pollinators can enjoy it.
Since I love to make skincare products, it would be silly of me not to mention that chamomile contains chamazulene, which is a natural chemical compound that has been utilized in treating skin inflammation. Due to these calming properties, chamomile tends to be in many skin care formulas. When I had my little apothecary, one of my products (Healing Flowers Oil) featured chamomile oil. If your skin agrees with it, mixing chamomile oil (I prefer blue chamomile oil) in with your favorite carrier oil would be a nice after shower or after bath oil to put on your skin, if it needs some calming and soothing treatment.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this information with you to inspire you to plant chamomile in your garden this year. I have never regretted planting chamomile of any variety. I have regretted planting some plants (i.e. borage), but chamomile has never been one of them. It’s always yielded a dependable and beautiful growth.