My favorite way to put a personal touch on my yard is by growing plants that hold a deeper meaning. One of the best choices is birth month plants and I’m obsessed with the latest addition: birth month herbal tea plants. That’s right, there’s an edible plant for every month of the year for GYO herbal tea.
However, unlike the definitive list of birth month flowers and birth month trees, birth month herbal tea plants are rather a hand-picked list curated by us at Homes & Gardens. They’re plants that have a seasonal link to their corresponding month, whether it be time to plant or harvest.
You can get so much out of these birth month herbal tea plants – use them to flavor tea or simply enjoy them for their appearance and delightful scents. Many of them can be grown indoors, too.
There are so many medicinal and tea herbs you can grow at home
(Image credit: ValentynVolkov / Getty Images)
12 Birth Month Herbal Tea Plants You Can Grow at Home
Before rushing to add birth month herbal tea plants to your yard, make sure to check your US hardiness zone and whether the plants will work for your garden.
If not, you can always try growing a tea garden indoors in water.
January: Rosemary
You can bring potted rosemary indoors to keep productive over winter
(Image credit: Steffen Hauser / botanikfoto via Alamy)
With varieties hardy across zones 6-11, you can grow rosemary in the yard or grow rosemary indoors.
It makes the perfect January birth month herbal tea plant because of its winter hardiness (especially varieties like ‘Arp,’ which you can buy as a starter plant on Amazon). You can even harvest rosemary during the coldest months.
You can steep fresh or dry needles to use rosemary as a tea infusion.
Find rosemary seeds at Burpee.
Find rosemary seeds on Amazon.
Find rosemary starter plants on Amazon.
February: Peppermint
There are hundreds of mint varieties to grow in your garden
(Image credit: Alamy)
For February, there is no better choice of the birth month herbal tea plants than peppermint.
This is one of the most aromatic mint varieties, offering a strong, spicy taste. It’s hardy across zones 5-9, and you can grow mint indoors easily, too.
In February, you can sow seeds indoors to start growing peppermint. You may find a seed tray like this one from Amazon is useful for this, particularly productive when positioned on a bright windowsill.
The benefit of starting seeds indoors as early as February is you’ll be able to harvest peppermint sooner in spring, ideal for a refreshing herbal tea at the start of the season.
Find a peppermint plant at Burpee.
Find peppermint seeds on Amazon.
Find peppermint starter plants on Amazon.
March: Lemon Balm
You can even put fresh lemon balm leaves in salads
(Image credit: Alamy/ Olga Miltsova)
Lemon balm is hardy across zones 3-9 and you can grow lemon balm indoors on a sunny windowsill.
In March, this perennial starts to grow more vigorously. You can take early harvests to add a citrus note to herbal teas.
As frost ends, you can also sow lemon balm seeds (from Burpee) directly outdoors to start new plants.
You can also find lemon balm seeds on Amazon or purchase a lemon balm starter plant on Amazon – just be aware it can spread aggressively so is often best contained in a planter.
April: Chamomile
Chamomile plants love full sun
(Image credit: Getty Images / ANGHI)
One of the most popular herbal tea flavors, chamomile, can be grown at home by planting chamomile seeds (from Burpee).
In April, you can sow seeds outdoors directly. Just make sure to choose well-draining soil to grow chamomile and you’ll soon have white blooms to enjoy and harvest.
You’ll need to dry the flowers before steeping them for a tea. This glass teapot with a tea strainer from Wayfair is ideal for making your own chamomile (or any herbal) tea.
Find chamomile seeds on Amazon.
Find a chamomile starter plant on Amazon.
May: Thyme
Thyme is a good choice for poor soils
(Image credit: Getty/Anna Mardo)
The birth month herbal tea plant for May is thyme, aligning with their harvesting season when grown outdoors.
You can grow thyme across zone 5-9 or grow thyme indoors year-round.
In spring, it tends to put on lots of new growth and can be harvested before it flowers. This is when the leaves are most flavorful.
It’s best to take stem cuttings to use for herbal teas, using herb garden scissors (like these from Amazon).
Find thyme seeds at Burpee.
Find thyme seeds on Amazon.
June: Spearmint
Even spearmint flowers are edible
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In June, spearmint (a particularly sweet variety of mint, hardy across zones 3-11) is at its best for harvesting, just before the plant starts to flower.
Once flowers do arrive, the taste will be less impactful and more bitter, but the tall spikes of white, pink, and lilac blooms add some color to your herb garden.
When the flowers start to fade, you can then save the mint seeds to plant again.
Find spearmint seeds at Burpee.
Find spearmint seeds on Amazon.
Find a spearmint starter plant on Amazon.
July: Lavender
Lavender is a good addition to pollinator gardens, attracting bees, butterflies, and more
(Image credit: Mariia Demchenko / Moment / Getty Images)
For July birthdays, the birth month herbal tea is lavender. This is because lavender is in full bloom in summer, enjoyed by people and pollinators alike.
You can grow lavender across zones 5-9, where it enjoys to bake in the sun. It makes a great addition to container gardens, too, with it being straightforward to grow lavender in pots for a pop of purple on your patio.
When harvesting lavender for a tea infusion, it’s the flowers (dried or fresh) that are steeped for floral flavor.
Find lavender seeds at Burpee.
Find lavender seeds on Amazon.
Find lavender starter plants on Amazon.
August: Fennel
Both fennel flowers and seeds are edible
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This one might be surprising, but you can actually infuse herbal tea with fennel seeds, offering a sweeter, liquorice taste.
It aligns with August because this is when fennel is at its peak for collecting seeds to use in tea. It’s just before the seeds dry and start to drop, still retaining essential oils and flavor.
You can grow fennel across zones 4-9, sowing seeds in spring for a summer harvest.
To infuse for tea, simply steep in water as you would with petals and leaves.
Find fennel seeds at Burpee.
Find fennel seeds on Amazon.
September: Sage
There are over 900 species of sage
(Image credit: P A Thompson via Getty Images)
You can grow sage across zones 4-10, making it a versatile herb for the garden.
In September, there’s a last opportunity for harvesting sage before the plant goes dormant for winter.
In fall, sage’s leaves are mature and packed with essential oils and flavor. It’s a good time to collect leaves to dry these herbs for storing over winter, too.
This is also a good time to take sage cuttings to propagate indoors, so you can multiply your plants for free.
Find sage seeds at Burpee.
Find sage seeds on Amazon.
Find a sage starter plant on Amazon.
October: Calendula
You can grow calendulas by sprinkling seeds in a wildflower patch
(Image credit: JL Roodt / Shutterstock)
While other blooms are long gone by October, calendula (hardy to zones 2-11) is still going strong, with vivid orange blooms.
This hardy annual has edible flowers which are often used in salads, but can also be used to infuse tea with a mildly sweet, earthy taste.
When growing calendulas for a tea garden, it’s best to dry the petals for longer storage.
You can also harvest calendula seeds to plant again in spring.
There are lots of calendula varieties to choose from, including these calendula ‘Pacific Beauty’ seeds on Amazon.
November: Bay Laurel
Bay laurel grows well in pots, making it a good choice for small gardens
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This birth month tea infusion plant is a little different: a bay laurel (hardy to zones 8-10).
More specifically, you can use bay leaves to make a fragrant tea. It’s actually a medicinal plant that helps with digestion and congestion, providing a woody, menthol-like taste.
In November, this evergreen continues to offer plenty of leaves to harvest and steep. A word of warning: don’t eat the berries, as they’re mildly toxic.
If you do choose to add a bay laurel to your yard, just watch out for common bay tree problems.
Find a bay laurel at Nature Hills.
Find a bay laurel at Fast Growing Trees.
December: Checkerberry
Checkerberry also makes for a popular festive decoration
(Image credit: Getty Images/Carol Aincer)
Checkerberry, also known as wintergreen or Gaultheria procumbens, is another evergreen that can be harvested for tea infusion leaves in winter.
As one of the best shrubs with winter berries, checkerberry’s red berries are edible (tasting sweet by December), but it’s the leaves of checkerberry that are picked and steeped to make a minty, sweet tea.
It’s best grown across zones 3-8, thriving in acidic soil and shaded environments.
You can grow checkerberry from seed with these seeds from Amazon.
Looking for more birth month plants for your yard? Try adding your birth month herb into the mix or your birth month flower seed. These all make for meaningful gifts, too.
Shop Herb Growing Essentials
This charming indoor herb garden has the capacity for three herb plants. Each planter has a drainage hole and a saucer to remove excess water.
Use these herb harvesting scissors to make clean cuts when harvesting fresh herbs from your garden.
Medicinal & Tea Herb Seeds
This pack of medicinal and tea herb seeds comes with 35 different plants to grow, perfect for starting a herb garden from scratch.
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