Back in March, a friend let me harvest some seeds from a vine in her yard after I admired its periwinkle blooms. I planted the seeds in my yard, wished them luck, and promptly forgot about them.

My front yard is full of drought-tolerant plants (mostly native) – they have to be pretty tough to survive because I don’t baby them. So, I was thrilled when I noticed the first tendrils after the rains started in May.

I now have several healthy Butterfly Peas (Clitoria ternatea)* growing in my yard. They aren’t just showy in my yard but in my kitchen, too. The flowers (fresh or dried) can be steeped to make an herbal tea with a flavor slightly reminiscent of chamomile.

While the tea is tasty and beneficial (supposed to help with memory) my favorite thing is that the tea is just as colorful as the flowers! Even better, I can change the color from blue to purple with just a few drops of lemon juice (the only time in my life that I’ll drop acid). While I like both colors, I’m definitely partial to the blue. How about you?

If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen playing with my food (technically drink, but you know what I mean)…

*Yes, the first part of the binomial does refer to women’s genitalia – yet another example of why we really need to stop letting men name things!