Herb · Asteraceae
German Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
Honestly, sun and decent drainage are about all it asks: give German chamomile those two and the apple-scented daisies keep coming all summer.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
41–86°F · 5–30°C
60–65 days
Overview
German chamomile is the upright, fast-growing annual behind most of the chamomile tea you'll find. It's a member of the daisy family, and it carries small white-and-yellow flowers on feathery stems, with a sweet, apple-like scent that you'll catch well before you spot it. What's it grown for? The flower heads, which get picked at their peak and dried for a calming cup.
The best part is that it barely asks for anything. Give it a sunny spot and well-drained soil and you're basically done, and it'll even shrug off poor, low-fertility ground that would stop fussier herbs cold. It's a real self-seeder too, so one season's flowers tend to plant the next, and a little patch can hang on in a bed for years if you let a few heads ripen.
There's just one thing to keep in mind. The dried flowers make a tea that's safe for most people, but the fresh plant is mildly toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and handling the foliage can bug the skin of anyone who's sensitive to ragweed. It earns a spot in the garden no problem, just not somewhere a nosy pet likes to graze.
Care
The short version: full sun, light well-drained soil, and steady moisture while it's young, with barely any feeding and regular deadheading to keep the flowers coming.
Light
Chamomile blooms best in full sun, with six or more hours a day. It'll take a bit of afternoon shade, but anything too dim and you'll end up with stretched stems and just a scatter of flowers.
Water
Keep seedlings and young plants evenly moist while they're settling in. Once it's established, it shrugs off a short dry spell just fine, though steady moisture and good drainage give you the heaviest flowering.
Soil
Pop it into well-drained sandy to loamy ground. It's not picky, so it'll do great even in poor, low-fertility soil, and it's happy across a wide pH range from 5.6 to 7.5.
Temperature
It's a cool-season herb that's comfortable anywhere from 41°F to 86°F (5°C to 30°C). The seedlings handle a light frost, which is exactly why an early start works out so well.
Humidity
Average humidity around 40% to 60% is all it wants. Outdoors that takes care of itself, so put your energy into airflow rather than fussing over a number.
Feeding
Keep it light. A little compost or a dilute balanced feed at planting is plenty, and too much nitrogen trades your flowers for leaves, which kind of defeats the whole point.
Pruning
Deadhead and harvest the open flower heads often to stretch out the bloom and keep self-seeding in check. And trim back any leggy growth as it turns up to keep things tidy.
Repotting
Chamomile isn't really a repotting kind of plant. It's grown as a direct-sown or transplanted annual and refreshed each season, so you just start over rather than potting it on.
Size & spacing
Plants get 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) tall with a spread of 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm). Give each one a hand's width of room so air can move freely between them.
When to plant
German chamomile is a cool-season annual, so it likes to get going early. You can sow indoors in late winter or just scatter seed straight into the ground come early spring, since the seedlings take a light frost in stride. The daisy-like flowers open up in early to midsummer, and that's when you'll want to pick the heads for drying.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Late winter to early spring, about 4-6 weeks before the last frost
- Plant: Early spring; cool-season annual whose seedlings tolerate a light frost
- Harvest: White-and-yellow daisy flowers in early to mid summer; harvest flower heads when fully open with petals reflexed
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–8
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
Chamomile's an easy herb, but a few things do crop up around seedlings, sunlight, and its habit of seeding everywhere. Most show up early and are simple to nip in the bud. Find what matches what you're seeing below, then act before it spreads.
Seedlings keel over at the soil line
If your seedlings pinch at the base and just flop over, that's damping-off, a soil fungus that loves it when the surface stays cold and wet. The stems go thin and water-soaked, and down they go. So sow thinly in a clean, free-draining mix, water a bit less, and keep some air moving, and it won't get a chance to take hold.
Fix:
- Reduce watering
- Improve drainage and airflow
- Sow thinly in a sterile, well-drained seed mix
Buds gone sticky and new shoots curling under a crowd of little bugs
See those tiny green or black specks bunched on the buds, and that sticky sheen? That's aphids and the honeydew they leave behind. They pile onto soft, sappy growth, so go easy on the feed and knock them off with a firm blast of water. If it's a big crowd, insecticidal soap sorts it out, and ladybugs will happily keep tidying up after that.
Fix:
- Dislodge aphids with a strong spray of water
- Apply insecticidal soap
- Encourage beneficial insects such as ladybugs
Leggy stems and barely any flowers
Tall, stretched, and hardly a flower in sight? That's almost always a sunlight problem, because under six hours a day chamomile grows leggy and skips the blooms. Shift it to a full-sun spot and it'll perk up. Ease off the fertilizer that pushes leaves over flowers, snip off the faded heads, and you'll coax out plenty more.
Fix:
- Relocate to a full-sun site
- Reduce fertilizing
- Deadhead to encourage more flowers
Surprise chamomile seedlings everywhere when spring rolls around
Come next spring, you might find little chamomile plants everywhere, and that's just what a keen self-seeder does when a ripe head drops its seeds. The trick is easy: harvest or deadhead the flowers before they scatter. And whatever still sneaks up? It pulls right out while the seedlings are small.
Fix:
- Deadhead before seed set
- Pull unwanted volunteer seedlings
Toxicity
Chamomile's gentle in the cup, but a little less so out on the lawn. The dried flowers brew into a tea that's safe for most people to drink, yet the living plant is mildly toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and its oils can irritate skin on contact. So keep pets from grazing it, and pull on gloves if plant allergies tend to get you.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
If a cat chews the leaves, you'll probably see some drooling, an upset tummy, and less interest in dinner, plus the oils can leave the skin a little sore. And if it keeps grazing over time, that's been linked to easy bleeding, so it's worth keeping curious cats away.
Dogs Mild
A dog that nibbles it usually gets a queasy stomach, loose stools, and a so-so appetite, nothing dramatic. Keep it up, though, and the skin can go red, and long-term chewing brings that same bleeding worry along with it.
Horses Mild
Horses that graze it can wind up with a sour stomach and a touch of mild diarrhea, and now and then the oils leave the muzzle and skin a bit irritated where they brush against it.
Rabbits Mild
The same oils that bother cats and dogs will upset a rabbit's gut too, so it's best to keep them off the leaves and hand them safer greens to munch instead.
Livestock Mild
Goats, sheep, and cattle that graze chamomile can get a bit of digestive upset and skin irritation, though most of them steer clear of the bitter, aromatic foliage anyway.
Birds Caution
There isn't much solid data on birds, so it's smart to play it safe and keep pet birds from pecking at the oily leaves and pollen.
People Edible as tea
The dried flowers brew into a lovely, soothing tea that's fine for most people to sip. The one thing to watch? Your skin, since handling the leaves or pollen can trigger contact dermatitis, especially if ragweed and its Asteraceae relatives tend to set you off.
Wear gloves when handling; the foliage and pollen can cause contact dermatitis, especially in people sensitive to ragweed and other Asteraceae.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
United Kingdom
Animal PoisonLine: 01202 509000 (fee applies)
Australia
Animal Poisons Helpline: 1300 869 738
Varieties
A handful of named cultivars are worth knowing about, mostly bred for tea growers who want bigger heads or richer oil. Here are the ones worth hunting down.
Bodegold
It's a German tea cultivar bred for big flower heads and a hefty yield of essential oil.
Bona
This Czech cultivar has flowered first in trials year after year, which makes it a solid pick if you want an early harvest.
Zloty Lan
It's a Polish cultivar chosen for its rich bisabolol and a heavy essential oil yield.
How to propagate
SeedEasy
Early spring; sow indoors in late winter or direct-sow once soil is workable, as seedlings tolerate light frost · Germinates in about 7-14 days and flowers in roughly 60-65 days
Chamomile's a breeze from seed, whether you start it inside in late winter or just scatter it onto worked spring soil, because the seedlings don't mind a light frost. Here's the catch: press the seed onto the surface and leave it uncovered, since it needs light to germinate. You'll see sprouts in about 7 to 14 days, flowers in roughly 60 to 65 days, and if you leave a few heads behind, they'll reseed the bed for next year.
Myths
There's no real difference between the German and Roman kinds; they're the same herb.
They're easy to mix up since they share a family and get used the same way, but they're actually two different species. German chamomile is the upright, self-seeding annual Matricaria chamomilla, while Roman chamomile is the low, mat-forming perennial Chamaemelum nobile. You can brew tea from both, but they grow differently and their chemistry isn't the same.
Anything gentle enough to brew a bedtime tea can't possibly do harm.
Sure, the tea's gentle, but the living plant isn't quite so innocent. The ASPCA lists chamomile as toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, and its oils and acids can bring on dermatitis, an upset stomach, and allergic reactions. And if ragweed gets to you, there's a good chance chamomile will too.