Webinars

Chamomile, Herb of the Year 2025!
With Susan Belsinger, Culinary Artist and Writer and

Tina Marie Wilcox, Herbalist and Head Gardener, Ozark Folk Center State Park

January 23, 2025, 1pm Eastern

Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox

Let us celebrate Chamomile, Herb of the Year 2025! The sweet fragrance of their flowers has been made into tea for their gentle and soothing virtues for centuries. Besides a lovely digestive tea, the chamomiles have a multitude of beneficial medicinal properties. The name chamomile is used to refer to several genus and species, each with cheerful yellow and white flowers, that can be found around the globe. These blooms attract pollinators and have been found to be helpful to plants growing nearby. Both German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Roman chamomile (Chamamaelum nobile) are easy to cultivate and we will share our experiences of growing both the annual and perennial.  We use chamomile in the apothecary as spa herbs and for aromatherapy and have created delicious recipes highlighting the culinary uses of these fragrant flowers.

Culinary artist and writer, Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox met in 1996 when Susan presented herb programs at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Arkansas, where Tina Marie is herbalist and head gardener. Having herbs, gardening and the pursuit of good food in common—they hit it off—and that was the beginning of a long-distance friendship. Gardening from their respective homes, Susan in Maryland, and Tina Marie in Arkansas, they’ve exchanged a lot of seeds, plants, roots and ideas over the years. 

They have collaborated on presentations across the country from the Smithsonian Institution to Epcot and have written for national publications like The Herb Companion, Herbs for Health and GRIT, as well as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Regions Guides. They co authored the creative herbal home, which celebrates their living the herbal life. Both women are active members of The Herb Society of America and the International Herb Association because of a shared mission to pass on herbal knowledge and share energy with plant folks.

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