I really hadn't read up on Mullein until late Summer and by then the flowers were mostly gone on the plants around here. So I was late in gathering those last year.

They're really tiny, and not easy to gather, and bugs do like those. They don't eat the leaves at all but I did see them on the Mullein flowers growing in my garden last year.

I did gather a few though and added them to leaves when making tea, I can't say I could either taste them or feel a difference in how the tea affected me. I've read they'll sweeten the tea and I tasted a few but really didn't detect much flavor or sweetness but they were all late bloomers and hangers on, so not a good sample.

I took some roots too, just a few, but I've not done anything with them. I've read those are supposed to be good for earaches but I've not had one of those since I was kid so I need to look into what else they were traditionally used for.