I grew feverfew on a whim one year.  I was getting a lot of headaches and was really tired of constantly popping pills.  One spring day, perusing through Richter’s herb catalog, I came across feverfew.  Soon after, I bought one feverfew plant.

Before we continue:
This is my personal experience with feverfew I shared for information purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice.  Consult with an appropriate practitioner before you use any herb for medicinal use.  And make sure you purchase your plants or dried herbs from a reputable source.

I planted my feverfew plant at the side of the house in a little out-of-the-way garden.  The plant grew beautifully, with an abundance of yellow and white blooms that self-sowed into more plants for years to come.  This feverfew herb patch is still growing strong 🙂

Even though I had a garden bed full of feverfew, I was hesitant to try the feverfew when I had a headache.

A couple of years after I planted my feverfew garden, I woke up one day with a headache and my stomach felt a little queasy.  Since common headache pills sometimes upset my stomach, I really did not want to take one.  There was this beautiful abundant patch of feverfew growing in my garden, in its prime for picking.

I picked three feverfew leaves and cautiously ate them.  Straight up!  They were really bitter.  No matter, I made a funny face, chewed them up and swallowed them quickly.  I rinsed them down with water.  Thankfuly, the bitter taste didn’t stay in my mouth long.

The feverfew leaves took the edge off my headache without the side effects I get from headache meds that tend to make me lethargic.  I was able to function with more clarity, even though my headache wasn’t completely gone.

I started using feverfew as my first line of defense for my headaches.  More often than not, that is enough to either totally dissipate my headache, or decrease it to a level where I don’t have to take anything else.

Usually, I just pick a few leaves and eat them as is.  Sometimes, I chop up fresh leaves into a salad or make a tea from either fresh or dried leaves.  Richters herbs also mentions adding feverfew leaves to a sandwich.

For a while,  I ate feverfew leaves on a semi-regular basis, as I read that the general recommendation for reducing migraine attacks is to ingest 1 – 4 feverfew leaves daily, either raw or in a tea.

Cautions

This is my personal experience with feverfew I shared for information purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice.  Consult with an appropriate medical practitioner before you use any herb for medicinal use.  And make sure you purchase your plants or dried herbs from a reputable source.

Feverfew does not work for everyone.  And there are potential side effects to taking feverfew for some people.

Pregnant or lactating women should not take feverfew.

Children under 2 should not be given feverfew.

A common side effect from eating feverfew leaves is sores and irritation in the mouth and on the tongue.  James Duke in his book ‘The Green Pharmacy’ recommends making a tea out of the leaves to avoid this side effect.

Growing Feverfew

Botanical Name:  Tanacetum parthenium

Feverfew is a perennial herb that is easy to grow.  It is hardy in zones 5 – 9, and the plants grow about 1 to 3 feet high.  Feverfew also self sows quite readily if you let the blooms go to seed.

Because  I live in southern Ontario where the winters can sometimes be harsh, I leave my feverfew herb flowers to go to seed.  Sometimes the existing feverfew plants don’t survive the winter, but new plants have reliably popped up from the fallen seeds every year.

Feverfew has lovely green foilage, and an abundance of small whte and yellow daisy-like flowers that bloom from June through August.

Feverfew is a great herb plant to grow in a perennial border.  It is an attractive ornamental plant that flowers most of the summer.  Also, I have found that feverfew reliably withstands wet and dry conditions.

Feverfew grows well in sun or shade.  It is drought-tolerant, and will grow in most soils.

Sow seed in late summer or early fall.  If buying feverfew plants from a nursery, purchase and plant them in the spring.

If you want to purchase feverfew herb seeds or plants you can find them here at richters.com.

Harvesting Feverfew

The best time of day to pick feverfew leaves is in the morning once any moisture on the leaves has dried and the sun is not too hot yet.  If I am picking the leaves to dry for the winter, I will harvest them in the morning.  If I am planning to use the leaves right away, I will harvest a few leaves right when I need them.

To dry feverfew leaves, lay the leaves out in a single layer on a sheet of parchment paper or tea towel away from sunlight.  Check and move the leaves around a bit each day to ensure they dry evenly and don’t get moldy.  Discard if the leaves begin to mold.  Store dried leaves in an air-tight container – I like to use Mason jars – in a dark cupboard.

Feverfew is also pretty in flower arrangements.  Cut the plant in the morning before it gets dehydrated from the sun.  Cut a sturdy stem with flowers and leaves on an angle.  Remove the lower leaves that would be immersed in water, and place the newly cut flower stems into water.  Then sit back and enjoy these cheerful yellow and white blooms.

Happy gardening 🙂
Barb

PS – If you want to purchase feverfew herb seeds or plants you can find them here at richters.com.

References:

‘The Green Pharmacy Herbal Handbook‘ by James A. Duke, Ph.D.

University of Maryland Medical Center at
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/feverfew

Richters Herbs at richters.com

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