Rose Craft - Rose Petals for Tea? ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Nothing can be lovelier than the aroma of fresh roses in a cup of tea.  Rose petal tea is easy to make using roses from your garden, and without artificial colourings or flavourings. 

Choose a full petalled, deep pink rose with a strong rose fragrance.  Good  roses to use are the Bourbons with their luscious fragrance.  One of the early Spring flowering Bourbon roses is Louise Odier with her full, bright pink and highly fragrant flowers.  A strong rose fragrance usually indicates a lovely rose flavour.

Alternatively, you could use one of the Tea roses (not to be confused with Hybrid Teas), so named for their fragrance reminiscent of dry tea leaves.  Tea roses have a variety of fragrances, from strong rose, fruity or citrus through to dry tea fragrance. Monsieur Tillier (pictured above) has a dry tea fragrance, along with petals that are crimson tinged with violet.   Mrs B R Cant also has a dry tea fragrance with a gorgeous deep pink colour.  Another Tea rose, Mrs Reynolds Hole, has a strong rose fragrance and rich pink colour.  It is fun to choose which rose has the most suitable fragrance and flavour for your rose petal tea.

Because she readily has an abundance of roses, I have used  the Tea rose, Comtesse de Labathe with her shell pink colour and delicate fragrance.   When dried, the colour and fragrance of this rose may not be as strong as other roses, but her softly coloured petals lend a subtle fragrance to loose leaf tea.

Whichever roses you decide on for your rose petal tea, choose perfect just opened roses with good colour and perfume.  As with all roses used in edible recipes, ensure your rose has NOT been sprayed with any pesticides.  Even if you use organic or ‘natural’ pesticides, these are still toxic and not safe for human consumption. You will need to dry your rose petals quickly to retain as much of the fragrance and flavour as possible.  

Take your bounty of lovely, fragrant roses.   Shake the flowers quickly to remove any dust and tiny insects.  Quickly rinse the whole flower under softly running water. Do not be tempted to leave your roses submerged in water as this will begin to release the precious volatile oils.  Gently shake the roses dry. 

Now pull the whole rose away from the base and snip across the bottom of the rose to remove the bitter white base of the petals.  To save time, do this in one snip across the bottom of the whole rose, rather than snipping each petal separately.

 

 Lay your petals out in a thin layer over paper towel.   Cover the layered rose petals with another paper towel and place these in the microwave.  Place your paper towel and rose petal sandwich on a heat proof flat plate and microwave on high in thirty second intervals, depending on the thickness and moisture content of the petals.  This small quantity took 3 bursts of 30 seconds each.  Ensure you do this in intervals as you will need to check that you have not burnt the rose petals. 

Once the petals are ready they should be dry and crisp, not leathery, and retain their colour.  Remove the petals from the now moist paper towel and lay on fresh paper towel to absorb any residual moisture.  Leave to cool and dry completely.  They should be crisp to touch and crumble easily.

Store the dried petals in a glass or china container (not plastic) away from light until you are ready to mix with your loose leaf tea.  Make sure there are no moist petals in your mix as these will re-hydrate the dried petals, causing them to go mouldy.   Now you are ready to mix your rose petals with your favourite tea.

Rose Craft - A Single Rose ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

During the winter pruning process, occasionally an early bloom succumbs to the secateurs.  It seems a shame to assign these single beauties to the pile of pruning clippings.  

No need to have a mass of roses in a vase for a lovely effect ... a single, full bloom can look exquisite.

The style of vase can reflect the choice of bloom ... this short stemmed, very fragrant Gruss an Aachen bloom is enchanting in a vintage china basket, embellished with tiny porcelain blossoms.

Just one bloom can add a touch of opulence to a neglected corner.  Take an elegant silver bud vase and add the lovely nostalgia rose, Vol de Nuit.  Like most mauve roses, it has a strong, delicious rose fragrance. 

David Austin's English roses are highly fragrant and gloriously reminiscent of heirloom roses. Here is Benjamin Britten, named for the famous English composer.  On a cold winter day, its bright colour and fragrance transforms a favourite reading nook on the verandah.   

Even a humble metal bowl, rescued from a rubbish tip, becomes beautiful when paired with one full, fragrant bloom of Augusta Luisa.  A more recent shrub rose, her blooms are fragrant and reminiscent of heirloom roses.  Add a few twigs and some rescued buds and, voila ...  you have a gorgeous vignette!   Lovely!  

 

Herbs Amid the Heirloom Roses ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

As the last of winter recedes, the rose beds tend to look a little bedraggled.  The garden’s saving grace is the carpet of herbs growing at the feet of the roses, softening the starkness of bare winter stems. 

Growing herbs amid the heirloom roses serves a number of practical purposes; first and foremost, acting as living mulch that protects root systems from frost and the drying effect of cold winds.  With their fragrance and variety of leaf and flower shapes, herbs also offer a plentiful food source and shelter for beneficial insects over the sparse winter months and into spring. 

A special treat is observing our Australian native bees foraging amongst the herbs.  As the weather warms and hints of spring begin to appear, we especially look forward to spying the solitary and rather shy blue-banded bee, (Amegilla cingulata) with its iridescent, furry blue stripes.  A native buzz-pollinating bee, it is a charming addition to the garden. 

One of the favourite bee foraging herbs in our garden is Borage.  We encourage Borage, (Borago officinalis) to self-seed at will among the rose beds.  Its broad, softly furred leaves give lushness to bare-legged roses after their winter prune.  

And the star shaped, blue flowers of Borage add a touch of colour and winter magic to secret corners of the garden.   It is a special delight to pick off the black seeds from under the spent flowers and scatter them in bare patches here and there, knowing they’ll pop up and fill another corner.   

As winter gives way to spring, a few of the heirloom roses are beginning to awake.  Here, the blue Borage flowers complement the porcelain pink of Souvenir de St Anne’s, daughter of the Bourbon rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison ... a match made in heaven!  

Another happy self-seeder is Tansy, (Tanacetum vulgare) with its yellow button flowers brightening up the garden.  The Hybrid Musk rose, Buff Beauty, in its sheltered corner flowers sporadically through winter, happily sharing the limelight with its neighbouring tansy flowers.  

Perennial herbs add a more permanent structure and greenery to the rose garden throughout winter.  There are a number of cultivars of rosemary, but the common Rosemary, (Rosemarinus officinalis) with strong upright growth and blue flowers is tough and copes with harsh conditions.  Rosemary also lends itself easily to being clipped into shape.  We clip ours into square pillars as accents on the corner of some of our rose beds.  Rosemary also propagates easily from cuttings and makes a low maintenance hedge to frame rose beds.   

Perfect for edging beds is the exquisite carpeting perennial herb, Lemon Thyme, (Thymus x citriodorus).  This comes in green or variegated leaf colours and both are sweetly, lemon fragrant.   We have laid ours alternately to edge the circular Moss roses bed.  A joy to brush past as it releases its lemony fragrance and now bees are already foraging amongst the first of its tiny pink flowers.  

Considered to be too invasive to let loose in garden beds, the common mint, (Mentha spp.) needs to be contained, even in a sprawling country garden.  We prefer to grow the less invasive spearmint, (Mentha x spicata) with its grey green foliage and sweeter fragrance.   It carpets the roses and offers up a delicious perfume each time it’s brushed or trodden upon.    

A decorative alternative is apple mint, (Mentha suaveolens) with its slightly woolly leaves and lovely apple-mint fragrance.    Apple mint is now on our 'must-have' list as it also comes in a variegated form, with cream splashed leaves; another fragrant addition to the herbal carpet at the feet of the heirloom roses.

Herbal Rose Posies Workshop ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Workshop ... Choosing a fragrant mix for your Rose Posie

A gorgeous and sumptuous posie can be made from the simplest materials and ingredients.  We use lovely, fragrant herbs to fill our rose posies.   Our herbs grow at the feet of our roses, acting as natural pest control and living mulch.   Nothing is lovelier than a carpet of fragrant herbs releasing their fragrance as you gather roses to prepare for posies.  

Fragrant herbal foliage adds depth and complexity to the rose fragrance of our posies.   So it’s important to blend the fragrance, as well as the colour scheme for each posie.  In our mixed pink posie above, we have added the subtle fragrance of a flowering salvia, it's name long forgotten, that self seeds throughout the rose garden.  It's fragrant leaves complement the soft pink and white colours of its flower spikes, adding texture, colour and fragrance to our posie. 

Lemon verbena is another herb whose fragrant leaves add a fresh citrus perfume and combines well with the early Tea rose, Lady Hillingdon.  This soft, apricot coloured rose has a fragrance with subtle fruit and citrus undertones; sometimes with a hint of fruity apricot.  Lemon, purple and apricot colours complement and contrast with the citrus fragrances in this posie. 

We often include deliciously fragrant pelargonium foliage with our rose posies.  The leaves, rather than the tiny pink flowers of the rose pelargonium, (Pelargonium graveolens), are strongly rose scented.  Their deeply cut leaves add a decorative richness and complexity to the rose perfume of our posie.  

Finally, for a  bespoke vintage look, wrap your posies in clean sheets of newsprint and tie with pretty vintage ribbon or lace.  Layer the newsprint with coloured tissue and finish with a sheet of cellophane for a slight touch of glamour.  For a uniquely personalised posie, theme the newsprint topic to match the recipient’s interests, or co-ordinate the news date with their birthday.   The fragrance of your posie will surely delight. 

Rose-craft Workshops ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Flower and Kitchen Craft Workshops

We conduct half-day and full-day Rose-craft Workshops AT MY ROSE GARDEN on a range of rose related topics. These are offered to patrons visiting or living on the Sunshine Coast.  

Our Workshops focus on oft-forgotten flower and kitchen craft, with practical applications for the every-day.  The materials for our workshops are sourced and gathered from our rose and herb gardens. 

We even bring our virtual Tea Rooms to life for workshop patrons to enjoy a morning or afternoon tea from a by-gone era amid our Heirloom Roses. 

From time-to-time we offer a peek at some of our Workshops on-line.