Plant a Tea Garden

Where to Grow a Tea Garden

This collection of herbs likes full sun–six or more hours per day–and soil loosened and enriched with organic material. They will thrive in a garden bed or in containers on your deck or balcony, making this a perfect specialty garden for those with space constraints.

How to Arrange Tea Garden Herbs

Place the following plants as pictured to create your tea garden. You can download the printable Plant a Tea Garden Diagram to take with you when plant shopping and to use as a quick reference to the layout when it’s time to plant. If you have limited space to plant a tea garden, just reduce the number of plants accordingly:

3 sage
4 lavender
4 chamomile
3 sweet marjoram
2 rosemary
2 lemon thyme

Diagram for How to Plant a Tea Garden

When planting your herbs, you should generally allow at least 12-18” (30-46cm) of space between the plants. If your plant comes with a tag with growing information use the spacing information found there as a guide for the different types of plants. You can also look up your herbs in our Plant Library to find more detailed information.

Pro Tip: Any member of the mint family also makes a lovely addition to the tea pot. However, mint is not included in this garden plan. It’s an aggressive grower and will take over any plot of which it’s part. If you want to grow mint for tea mixes, plant it in its own container or establish it in a bed with sturdy boundaries.

Using Herbs from a Tea Garden

These herbs can be combined or used separately, steeped in their dried or fresh forms. Every one of these plants is also a popular and useful culinary herb capable of spicing up everything from chicken to chocolate frosting . And even if you never cut a single snip from these planting, you will still be able to enjoy the lovely flowers and gentle fragrance they’ll bring to your deck or garden.

If you have some extra space when you plant a tea garden and would like to add a plant that is both useful and colorful, consider adding a few calendula plants. See our guide on How to Grow and Use Calendula to learn more about these vibrant, long-blooming flowers.