Henna with Tea
Henna Plant (Gorintaaku Mokka)
“Caldwell Nursery” is a small nursery near our home that sells one of a kind plants, roses and fruit trees. They also have a nice website and keep it updated with latest offerings. After going through the website I made a list. Visited the nursery in March, the planting season in Houston, bought henna and few other plants. The henna was a tiny potted one, but after planting in the ground, it is growing well.
My father in law, the master gardener, who is visiting us from Nandyala, wanted to trim the branches and add some support to help the new growth. As a result, I have a cup full of fresh henna. I’ve added few drops of tea decoction to henna leaves and made a fine paste in a stone mortar. Henna is a healthy herb, not only colors but also reduces the heat of the body. During hot months, what is better than henna to keep the hands and the head cool and colorful?
Henna Paste with Tea Decoction (Gorintaaku Mudda)
mom has this plant too at home… gorintaaku pettukoni enni rojulayindo.. thanks for the pics!
Wow! I will be calling them and visiting them from Austin sometime then. Thanks so much!
– Vidhya
oooppps! Forgot to add one more thing. If I don’t get them, will you please, please save some seeds incase if they produce it?
Thanks,
V
So nice to see the Gorintaku mudda. Hoping to see the other exotic plants you planted soon.
I love to apply mhendi on my hands and hair. Fresh mhendi looks so good.
that is nice.:)
Please Indira garu me cheythulu chala andam ga vuntayi… gorintaku petukoni baga pandaka photo matram petadam marchipovadhu….Please!
Wow . Good gardening . I like henna in hands .
Nice post .
Hmmm i love the fresh smell from the leaves….
Indira,
What is tea decoction. I’ve heard my cousins who grew up in TN (Tamil Nadu, not Tennessee 🙂 use this term, but I never knew what it was or how to make it. Hope you don’t think it’s too dumb a question.
Thanks.
http://www.caldwellhort.com/- what is henna called in english? pl let me know indira…Hope mee gorintaku baga pandindi..take some pics and share with us.
Indira, the colour of the henna will be out of the world as it is so fresh. The mhendi will come out so nice and bright colour.
Hey Indira,
Do they have an online store? I went through and couldnt find henna…I would appreciate if you could throw some light on it….thanks:)
hope to see ur henna patterns soon
Thanks all for your mehendish like comments.
Vidhya: I will definitely try to save the seeds when it produces.
Padmaja: A glass of water and a teaspoon of tea powder. Boiling severely produces tea decoction. It’s concentrated plain black tea without milk and sugar.
DK: I don’t think they sell online. Check the “Featured Plants” section, second page for henna plant details.
I hav henna plant at home..lov the smell a lot..
That looks really beautiful… Granny used to force us to apply it on hands/hair, we try to run away from her. But now I dearly miss them..
Thanks Indira,
Do you strain this before adding to the henna? I wonder if it would work with henna powder. I am at that age, where my hair needs a little something.
Boil, strain. Cool and then add the tea decoction to henna. Make a thick and smooth paste. The henna paste in the cup above went to color the hair. It works great, Padmaja. Brings earthy highlights to the hair.
-Indira
Awesome post, Indira ! Henna just sucks the heat monster out and gives him a good whack ! I’d love some …
Hi Indira! Fascinating post, as usual. It’s wonderful that you grow your own henna! I’ve seen henna growing on the perimeter of fields in Gujarat. I read years later that farmers do this mainly because henna plants repel pests, and they additionally benefit from using or selling the henna. Can you or your father-in-law confirm if henna has pesticidal properties? If so, is it effective against any particular pest? I’ve heard/read similar things about neem and aloe. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our food could be protected from pests entirely by other useful plants, and we never had to use chemical pesticides!
Moi: Pruning henna was a family event:) and there was a small talk about henna at that time. In-laws told me about pesticidal properties and how even goats (they usually munch anything green) also won’t eat henna. They also said it would make a great hedge plant. Little or no water, tolerates lots of Sun and keep the plant diseases away.
I’ve forgotten about this conversation. Thank you for writing about this excellent henna benefit.
-Indira
Sadly many people don’t use it on hair these days. That’s because of the fancy hair colors available. If you apply henna on your hair, you cannot apply a hair color or should I say that hair color won’t stick well on the hair, until all henna comes off first.
Its so great to know that you grow henna plant. I was wondering how can I acquire a henna plant since it is not sold online. A morracan friend of mine introduced me to henna with tea to help maintain my blood sugar, and it seems to help. For the past couple of years my friend would have her family in morraco send them to me. I would love to grow my own henna…where can I buy them?
Gorintaaku brings to mind Atla Tadde and Undalla Tadde, children swinging on rope suings, gongura and curd meals before sun rise and a whole lot of other sights and sounds from childhood. Thanks for a nice post.
Indira, Please let me know how to take care of henna plant in winter.i live in dallas.If it is planted in the ground, after the winter does it grow back like a perennial.