The season of roses has come to an end. While some years roses bloom for only a week or two, this rainy spring has yielded nearly two months of continually blooming roses. I have really enjoyed my mornings spent filling my basket with these lovely blossoms and the meditative practice of carefully arranging them in the herb dryer.
Just as important as the actual harvest is the process of drying herbs that are meant for medicine. I take extra care with roses which can be easily damage when dried at too high of temperatures. Both their essential oils and lovely colors can be affected if left out in the sun. And to me their beauty is just as important as the healing properties they contain.
Roses can be used in teas and tinctures, made into oils and later balms to heal the skin. I also use harness their natural perfume to add to gift bags alongside other nice smelling flowers like lavender. And when I was active with my herbal business roses were the most in demand of all of my offerings (besides calendula!)
In the realm of social media I get the most feedback from anything I share relating to roses, particularly from women. I think it is more than cultural conditioning that links roses with love. And I don't think it is only romantic love that comes to mind when we think of this flower. Personally I think of grandmas and mother's day as well as Valentine's day and powerful self love magic.
In my apothecary I reach for the jar of dried roses for pre-menstrual teas as well as to soothe the nervous system after a hard day of work. I often add roses to my water kefir fermentations as they contain a lot of natural yeasts hidden between the petals. My favorite application of roses is making a topical medicine with coconut (or almond) oil that has been infused with organic roses from my garden.
Rose Oil
Infused oil is a staple of herbalism and, fortunately, is super simple to make. All you have to do is fill a jar about 1/3 of the way with dried roses and then top it off with the carrier oil of your choice. I find that coconut oil pairs really well with roses. Others prefer almond oil, or even a combination of the two. Each oil has different benefits for the skin. It is worth experimenting to see which works best for you.
The jar of oil and dried roses should be capped and left in a dark corner of the apothecary for about a month. Once this period of time has passed it is time to separate the herbal matter from the oil and bottle the oil in clean containers. I like to have a small bottle handy in the bathroom to use on my face & body before or after showering, for romantic moments, and self massage. The rest of the oil is kept in a clean jar, tucked away in a dark spot for making lip balm, salves, and even hair oil. The possibilities are endless!
Its amazing how this thorny beautiful roses has a lot of use to us, humans. I say, its a essing for us. Not only it can make one place smells good, it can also brighten one's place with its beauty. Its sad we don't have roses in our garden 😫
There are so many beautiful & medicinal flowers out there. Roses are one of my favorites and was already growing where I live now. Maybe you can plant some in your garden! 🌹
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BEER.Roses are amazing plants ! If you live in the right area, and work at it, you can make rose season last for several months. It hasn't happened for me this year - a combination of too many distractions from work, and a poor summer - but most years if we have a mild autumn I can keep our roses popping up new flowers from late spring right through until Christmas. But I have to work hard at dead-heading them as soon as each flower starts to lose it's petals !
Does dead heading help the plant produce another round of flowers?
It does; once the petals fall off, the flower is what becomes the fruit. If you dead-head them, the rose won't be able to put energy into growing the fruit, and will make new flowers again in the hope of making a fruit that'll survive. But you do have to get all (or almost all) the heads off, or it'll push energy into the ones it's got left.
In the case of roses, the fruit is rose hips. One day I'll learn what can be done with them, I had a great aunt many, many years ago who picked the hips of wild roses to make syrup but not sure if cultivated ones can do that.
rose hips are very medicinal! they have high amounts of vitamin C and are great for syrups like your great aunt would make as well as in a topical oil for the skin.
And thank you for the advice about dead heading the roses. I will give that a try to get another round of roses on a couple of the more prominent bushes.