Hi everyone. I was looking through a veggie seed catalogue the other day and they had Chrysanthemums. Are they all edible and good for teas or is it only certain kinds? Thanks!
Certain kinds are good for tea; others will repel wasps and biting insects! For drinkin', look for yellow or white varieties of C. morifolium and C. indicum. Boil the open flowerheads in water to make Chrysanthemum tea. This is also a flu remedy. For bugging off, look for the following species: Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium aka Tanacetum cinerariaefolium, C. coccineum, C. balsamita, and C. marshalii. The last two are less effective than the first two. Dried flower heads, crushed into a powder, are a powerful natural insecitcide; a tea of the dried flower heads can be used as a spray to repel wasps and mosquitos. Live, they are good companion plants to anything you want to keep the bugs off.
