'Tis the season .. to make memories at Christmas

I have always loved Christmas with its sights sounds and smells .. bright lights, colourful decorations and the fragrances that make up memories of Christmas times' past.  Growing up with the Australian bush at our back door, the smells of Christmas featured earthy yet spicy aromas of eucalyptus trees in the brilliant heat of an Australian summer. 

Our Christmas tree was a branch from a row of radiata pines planted by my grandmother.  The spicy smell of the resin from the pine is quintessentially Christmas for me.

But the joy of celebrating Christmas is that we can create new memories for ourselves and loved ones.  It doesn't need to be expensive.  What wealth there is in one rose filled with hundreds of petals.  And being surrounded by the fragrance of heirloom roses blooming in the heat of December is an opportunity to build new memories for our grandchildren.

New traditions;  An Australian native casuarina pine as our Christmas tree;  Long lunches groaning with fresh Australian seafood and salads;  Cold plum pudding with cool, creamy custard.  And after all the day's excitement, a relaxing evening walk in the garden with Pop trialling new 'child-sized' watering cans left under the Christmas tree.    

And new games to learn; like smelling and sniffing the roses .. before plucking the petals and tossing them in the air laughing and giggling.  This last trick taught by a mischievous uncle!  

And enjoying the riches of simple moments in simple surroundings creating life-long memories for another generation.  Even if families are separated by miles, laughter and fun can still be shared with the magic of today's technologies.

Oh, the joy of celebrating Christmas .. 

Merry Christmas !!

Drying Botanicals for Fragrance and Colour .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

After all the hard work of planting and growing heirloom roses, the joy of gathering up buckets brimming with roses, flowering herbs and assorted flowers and foliage is one of my all-time favourite  luxuries. 

Then there's the fun part of arranging posies and bouquets for special requests and occasions.  But after all the bouquets are wrapped and picked up or delivered, there are always left-overs.  

Being one of the last baby boomers, with parents who had grown up in the war years, wastefulness was never tolerated.  And childhood lessons are often hard to shake, so I have always felt uncomfortable throwing away left-over lovelies, like single roses, fragrant herbs and foliage.  

So I have decided to gather up spare roses and left-over bunches of herbs like feverfew and lemon thyme, and hang them to dry in my downstairs 'studio'.  

I'm gathering a little collection now and they're starting to look lovely .. little bunches and posies dangling in the breeze.

In fact, they're looking so lovely that I've started to pick and dry posies and bunches of roses and herbs on purpose .. just to hang and dry.

The fragrance is lovely .. softer and more muted than the strong scent of freshly cut roses and herbs .. but still very present.

So now whenever there's a bounty in the garden, or I need to dead-head roses, instead of throwing them out I gather up bunches and hang them upside down.

And they're just lovely hanging from the rafters!!!

So now I'm selling pretty little posies of dried botanicals that don't wither in the sun and heat and don't need to have their water changed daily ..

A perfect little gift for that difficult someone to buy for ..

Contact me via Facebook: Edgeworth Lley - Heirloom Roses if you'd like to place an order.