Woo hoo my lucky day. I found 2 volutneer Stevia plants about 10 inches tall. I had grown some there last year and let them go to seed. Its funny, when I was weeding the bed a while back I noticed this clump of stuff coming up. I didn’t pull it because I thought it looked familiar but couldn’t remember what it was. I figured I’d give it a while to grow and see if I recognized it. Glad I didn’t pull it. Just now I was pulling weeds and found a second plant that I had missed earlier. Too cool.

Stevia is a natural sweetener that is supposed to be tolerated by diabetics without causing fluctuation in blood sugar levels. It has been used in South America for centuries and in the last couple of years has been gaining popularity here in the US. I’ve grown it a couple of times. Its very easy to do. It likes part sun to full sun and needs to stay moist. I have mine where they get about 4 hours of sun per day. Harvest before they go to seed if you want the leaves. I pinch mine back throughout the season to get some leaves for my tea and encourage branching. Usually I’ll go out and gather a handfull of mint leaves and a few Stevia leaves and I am set for a nice cup of tea. If I am in need of relaxing I might add a few catnip leaves to the mix.