Lemon verbena tea

If you adore anything lemony, like I do, and have a spare corner in your garden, you should grow a lemon verbena bush. This herb, with its distinctive citrus flavour and heady scent, is extraordinary – just a few leaves add fragrance to drinks, dishes, pot-pourri and even flower bouquets. Recent French guests of ours from the Rhône-Alpes region commonly drink this beverage, which they call ‘verveine’, and swear by it as a winter cold-preventative – with the addition of honey and schnapps, they say, it “cooks them out of illness”. Traditionally, it takes 40 leaves and 40 days to make their version of the brew, but in summer I’ve found this quick infusion suits me fine and is deliciously refreshing poured over ice. Add edible flowers and a few berries if you want to pretty things up a little.