How to Grow Chamomile From Seed

Chamomile is easy to time. Direct-sow it in spring once the soil has warmed and the danger of hard frost has passed, or start it indoors 6 weeks before your last frost and move it out as young seedlings. In mild-winter areas you can also sow in fall for early bloom. It flowers fastest in the long days of early summer, so an early start gives you the longest picking season.

Chamomile seeds are tiny and need light to germinate, so do not bury them. Scatter them onto the surface of moist, well-drained soil or seed mix and press gently so they make good contact, without covering them. Keep the surface evenly moist at around 65 to 70F, and seedlings appear in 7 to 14 days. Thin them to 6 to 8 inches apart once they have a couple of sets of true leaves. It grows happily in the ground or in a wide pot in full sun.

Once established, chamomile is low-maintenance and rather drought-tolerant. Water when the top inch of soil dries, going easy since it dislikes soggy roots, and skip heavy feeding, as lean soil actually gives more flowers. Pinch young plants once to encourage bushy growth, and pick the blooms often to keep new ones coming. Let a few flowers mature at the end of the season and it will happily reseed itself for next year. German chamomile is a cool-season annual that flowers best when days sit around 60 to 70 degrees, so in the North and the Pacific Northwest it blooms right through a mild summer; in hot regions like Texas, the Deep South, and inland California, sow it in fall or very early spring for a spring show, because it fades once summer highs climb and the plants scorch in prolonged heat.

Chamomile is famously known as the plant doctor, a good-natured neighbor that many gardeners swear improves the vigor of herbs and vegetables growing beside it. Its flowers also draw hoverflies and beneficial insects. These four make especially good companions, and you can add any of them in one click:

Harvest chamomile flowers when the white petals are fully open and the yellow centers are raised and domed, ideally on a dry morning after the dew lifts. Pinch or comb the heads off with your fingers, leaving the foliage to keep producing. Pick every few days at the peak of bloom for the best flavor. To dry them, spread the flowers in a single layer somewhere warm and airy out of direct sun until papery, then store in an airtight jar.

Chamomile's best-loved use is a soothing, gently apple-scented herbal tea, made by steeping a spoonful of the fresh or dried flowers in hot water. The blossoms are also pretty scattered fresh into salads or used to infuse honey and simple syrups. Out in the garden the flowers are a magnet for hoverflies and other helpful insects, and a low mat of chamomile makes a fragrant edging along a path.

• Poor germination: chamomile needs light to sprout, so surface-sow and never bury the seed, and keep the surface from drying out.
• Damping off: seedlings flop from overwatering. Sow in well-drained mix, give good airflow, and let the surface dry slightly between waterings.
• Floppy, leggy plants: too little sun or too rich a soil. Grow in full sun and lean soil, and pinch young plants once for bushiness.
• Aphids: rinse them off with a spray of water; the flowers attract hoverflies and ladybugs that clean them up naturally.