Feverfew Herb Plant

Appearance

• Feverfew's blossoms are about the size of a dime and soar over matte-green, oblong, toothed leaves on strong but delicate two- to three-foot stems. The leaves are of typical chrysanthemum appearance, making it easy to mistake the two plants in early spring.

Growing Preferences

• Feverfew is a perennial, usually blooming in mid-summer. Its strong scent is carried on both the blossoms and the leaves. It prefers full sun or partial shade, and moist but well-drained soil. Larger plants can be divided in either spring or fall. Feverfew is hardy in USDA Zones 5 through 10, but its self-sowing tendencies make it an easy annual to grow further north.

Uses

• Feverfew earned its name from being used to make a fever-reducing tea. While it has historically been used this way, the plant also has the same bug repellent properties common to all chrysanthemums. It can be used in bouquets for this purpose, or the leaves and blossoms can be steeped into a bug repellent wash. Noted herb gardener Adelma Grenier Simmons recommends using a feverfew wash for both repelling insects and relieving their stings.

Vulnerabilities

• Feverfew, like most chrysanthemums, is easy to grow. It is not a particular favorite of any insects, thanks in part to its fragrance. Feverfew plants are known to get leaf spot fungus and botrytis blight, but both problems are easily managed by removing the discolored portions of the plant.

Growing Tips

• After the first round of blossoms, feverfew begins to die back. Trimming off all of the brown will encourage a new round of blooms to appear; sometimes the cycle can be repeated to produce blossoms through mid-fall on smaller plants. Cutting spent blossoms back will also help control the spread of the plant's seeds.