Growing Feverfew in the high country

I have a kitchen garden that is pretty small but very well designed with 6 large raised beds and a rock garden along a fence - all of which allows me to grow 70-something different types of herbs (along with a couple of tomatoes, and fava beans).   

I keep thinking I need to put a post together with the whole list of what's growing in my tiny kitchen garden...

Today I wanted to do a quick spotlight on Feverfew.
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​Background

Feverfew:  Tanacetum parthenium  (aka; chyrsanthemum parthenium and pyrethrum parthenium)

(I know... geesh!)

​This herb is a species related to chrysanthemums and is in the aster family.  Feverfew would easily be confused with chamomile but grows taller (to around 28") and has slightly larger blooms, plus it has flat, jagged edged leaves that are distinctly different.   The scent is quite a bit more spicey, citrusy.  The blooms look like tiny, stubby daisies -- a very happy and bright bloom.

Aside from the claimed health benefits, it is really just a beautiful and tough plant worth a spot in any cottage style garden.

Here in Prescott, I have found the one I'm growing (Feverfew 'white pompom') to be perennial.  Since I started it from seed, it didn't do all that much the first year (I know I say that often!), but the second year it grew robustly and flowered profusely. 

​I grow mine in full sun but they do get late afternoon and evening shade which seems to be perfect.  They will reseed freely, IF you let the flowers remain and drop, but you can simply deadhead the plant or better yet:

• harvest the flowers just at the moment they are beginning to open and then use as a cut flower indoors or
  
• try making a tea by steeping the blooms in just-boiling water (add some honey to balance the slight bitterness). 

Alternatively, you could plant a few in an area that has some bare spots and just let them reseed over time naturally.   I always like to embrace the nature of any plants I'm growing to the extent possible... why fight it!

I've heard that this plant can sometimes suffer from aphids and some powdery mildew, but in our climate I don't find that to be a problem - assuming they are not overwatered.  I would describe Feverfew as requiring some regular water, but it's not a water hog.

Feverfew is thought to repel some bumblebees, but they do attract local bees and other pollinators.  Again, in my kitchen garden I have had zero issues with pollinators - given that everything else is a magnet for them here. 

This herb is used commercially in products to treat headaches and inflammation and has been used for menstrual cramps and join pain.  My reading has found that a simple tea might prove to be useful for those issues.  (Always talk to a healthcare professional before using any herbs medicinally.)

behind the scenes in my prescott garden

This feverfew plant is growing in one of my large raised beds.  It's about 20-24" tall.  This variety is 'white pomom' because, as you can see, the blooms are more like buttons than true daisy petals, and they have a cream or white color with that yellow center that is most noticeable at the early stage of blooming.
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Here's a closeup of some of the blooms with the flowers at different stages.  It was tough to get a good focus on the whole bunch, but still you get the idea.  
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I am happy to admit that sometimes getting seeds started can just be ... mysteriously frustrating.  I found that to be the case with the other variety of Feverfew I wanted to grow.  I'll try again and maybe be more methodical but meanwhile, here's an image of what most Feverfew varieties look like.  📸Lynn Elder/pexels.

Similar variety here which I wasn't able to get going but I just loved this inspiring image.  📸Rodnae Productions/pexels.

Thanks so much for following along with me.  I'm so fortunate to get to do what I love most and that I have a little patch of land in this beautiful part of the world to do it in.  I know that a lot of the plants that I share here in my blog are fairly unusual, but I hope you are at least curious now, if not adding this herb to your plans for your garden.  Let me know what you are thinking - I'd love to hear - drop a comment below.

Peace & contentment,
~Miriam

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