Homegrown tea: How to raise your own brewable plants

A young tea plant waits for a buyer at Nuccio's Nurseries in Altadena.(Ann Summa)

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Somewhere around the world, it has long been tea time. Few garden plants come with as long a history as tea (Camelia sinensis). For thousands of years, the caffeinated perennial was harvested for its medicinal uses, mixed with food and steeped as a drink.

Tea originated in the hills of East Asia where southern China borders Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Nearly 300 varieties have spread globally: to Charleston, S.C. (home of what's billed as the only tea farm in the U.S.), to Brazil, to the foothills of the Himalayas. The plant is drought-tolerant, easily propagated, grows in sun or shade, and can be harvested dozens of times a year.

Growing your daily cuppa sounds appealing, but it’s not that easy.

At Wattles Farm, the community garden in Hollywood, Gina Thomas planted five varieties -- two Chinese, two Japanese and one Indian -- a few years ago. Now one Chinese variety is the only survivor, but she’s going to try again this spring, this time with varieties specifically for green tea processing.