The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the SIGN building on North Street. Our topic will be ikebana.
When you and I get together, I often suggest we share a cup of tea. My darling Mom and I loved to sit by the table in her cozy kitchen and share a cup of tea, chatting about anything and everything, including gardening! What special times! So as you and I sip our tea now, have you ever wondered about tea, as a plant?
I did some homework, and to my surprise I learned that tea is a member of the camellia family. While camellia sinensis called Asia home, it is now grown in other parts of the world where the humidity and ph levels in the soil are suitable. The soothing sensation of tea is how it began its career: for medicinal purposes.
In the 1600’s, the Dutch East India Company began shipments of tea, and it became the trendy new drink of the time. While we often associate tea drinking with the British, the practise did not begin there until the 1800’s. Tea was an expensive drink, and most people could not afford it. When they did consume tea, it was for special occasions only.
But as with any “new thing”, the tea that came from China at a high price eventually had to make room for tea that came from other places such as India. Attempts to start tea plants from seeds brought from China had success when the seeds were planted in Darjeeling, India. The agricultural factors of the area were wonderful for tea, and the plants thrived. So the price of tea went down, and now everyone could enjoy the delicious “new” drink, tea. An interesting little factoid, Darjeeling produced about twenty million pounds of tea a year.
We saw a program on TV the other day, and it featured an area in Southern England, in the Cornwall area, that grew Darjeeling tea with good success. The gardener talked about the difference between “green” tea, “black” tea and “white” tea. He showed us the branches on the tea plant: the top two leaves and a bud were called a “flush”. When picked and dried, this became green tea. When picked and rolled to bruise the leaves, then dried, this was known as black tea. And when picked but only the very tender bud was dried, this became the rare and expensive white tea.
For us gardeners, looking at tea as a plant teaches us that tea is an evergreen shrub, grown mainly in tropical or subtropical locations. The plants can be grown from seed or cuttings, and need to be at least three years old before they can be cultivated. They need acidic soils, and at least fifty inches of rain a year. The tea plants can grow into a tall tree, but for tea production they are kept trimmed to shrub size, not only because harvesting is easier, but because then the plants will produce more shoots. From what I read, it seems that harvesting is done by hand, imagine! This should give us a greater appreciation of our cup of tea!
It’s now six years since I lost my Mom; I think about her and miss her every day. How I miss our tea-time chats! So right now, I’m going to make a nice hot cup of tea and enjoy it in one of her pretty china teacups and saucers. Why don’t you do the same, treat yourself to a fancy cup, and take a moment to savor the tea (and all the work that went into it), and savor special happy memories of someone dear to you who is gone. I love you, Mom.
Have a good week!
