I never dreamed that the therapeutical value of color and fragrance is one of the reasons I have lived happily for 90 years. According to the latest ideas about aroma therapy, sweet smells on and around your body in an atmosphere of bright color perform a curative process to alleviate stress. I am referring to ordinary stress of weather (100 degrees), crowds of people in stores, and transportation in heavy traffic.
This theory must be true because when I walk in my garden, a quiet uncrowded place filled with bright color and sweet smells, I feel all my stress dissolving, leaving me relaxed and free. In my back yard, I wear a sunhat, carry scissors and a basket. I stop at my three bougainvillea bushes and snip stems of bright burgundy. Then I come to my hummingbird bush (Hamalia patens) and pick a few of the suncolor tubular blossoms which, when they open enough for the hummingbird’s thin proboscis, will be the source of tasty juice.
Moving on, I come to my favorite summer flower — zinnias. Their intense color seems to hold the sun. Zinnias thrive in the intensity of 100 degree weather — the hotter it is, the brighter their color. I pick red, yellow, purple, pink and lavender. I pass by the roses. I have two rose gardens, about ten bushes in each garden. The rose gardens are planted out in the middle of the yard away from the shade of the fence and the trees, so they will get sun all day. Roses like sun and lots of water. I pick roses every day though I leave the buds alone until they open more. (I keep the roses in deep warm water to get a good long drink until I am ready to use them).
Last, I come to the pink crepe myrtle tree. The blossoms are too highfor me to pick, but I thrill at the tall splash of pink standing like a lighthouse above the other flowers.
Before I leave the garden, I come to my favorite spot — my herbs. I shoot the hose on them, which stirs up a wonderful smell. Basil smells spicy; Lemon Verbena, lemony. Rose Geranium is special. Sage reminds me of Christmas. Rosemary reminds me of lamb chops. When you press oregano leaves, you think of pizza. I have to tear Bay leaves to smell them. In his Herbal 1597, John Gerard wrote about the effects of scents on people. “Basil,” he wrote, “taketh away melancholy and maketh a man merry and glad,” and of rosemary, “smell of it and it shall keep thee youngly.” Pliny, a Roman naturalist (A.D. 2379) said, “As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits.” I always pick herbs to put in flower arrangements: purple basil for its rich color and spicy smell, rosemary for its height and lasting aroma, and mint for its refreshment.
I bring all my flowers and herbs to my kitchen table. Before I start making an arrangement, I look at the old bouquet of roses on the table. I throw out the dead flowers and take the petals off the still pretty roses to dry for potpourri. Then I make a new arrangement for my kitchen table. Since I am a widow and often eat alone, I enjoy having flowers keep me company.
When winter comes, the oregano and the rosemary will live in the mild Houston climate as will the rose geranium if protected. The main fragrance in my home, however, comes from my potpourri.
How To Make Potpourri
In my fresh arrangements the roses last about three days. When the rose petals still have good color, but look straggly in the arrangement on my table, I pull the petals off the roses and scatter them thinly over a cookie sheet and put them on top of the refrigerator to dry. In three or four days, the petals will be dried and ready for making potpourri.
I use a widemouthed opaque plastic onegallon container to make potpourri. Into this, I put a thick layer of rose petals. On top of the petals, I sprinkle 1 teaspoon or more of a fixative, orris root pellets, which is the root of the Florentine Iris. On top of the fixative, I drop five to ten more drops of oil. My favorite oils are cinnamon, lavendar and rose geranium. I leave the petals for fifteen minutes for the fixative to absorb the oil. I repeat making layers until the jar is three quarters full, leaving room for petals to mix when the jar is shaken. I shake the jar from time to time and keep it covered.
The time required for the rose petals and oils to blend and emit fragrance depends on how much oil is used initially and how well covered the potpourris are kept. Lucia of Lucia’s Gardens in Houston, where one can buy oils and potpourris, says “It takes three to four weeks for the rose petals and oils to mix, and the potpourri lasts about that long.”
I keep my three jars of potpourri all the time, removing potpourri for gifts and replacing the petals, flowers, fixatives and oils. The difference between my potpourri and my friend Lucia’s is that she makes blends, never just one scent like mine. For example, she blends rose, lavender and sandalwood oils. In thinking of the delicate shade of pink of the Queen Elizabeth rose, or the rich velvety red of the Mr. Lincoln, or the twotone beauty of the Double Delight rose, I do not mind the constancy of the work it takes to grow them. At my age I have help, but I have to see to it that the work is done.
Fertilizing & Mulching
We give each rose an 8 ounce paper cup filled three quarters with 131313 plus 2 tablespoons of epsom salts placed in a 6 inch circle around the stem of the rosebush monthly, and water it. (I have had bitter experience giving too much fertilizer). Because it is so hot now in August I will wait another month until it cools a little before I fertilize again.
We keep a compost mulch on the rosebud (not touching the rose stem) to keep it cool in summer and warm in winter and occasionally give it a nutritious mulch of alfalfa pellets.
Spraying & Watering
We spray the roses weekly with a fungicide to avoid blackspot, which is rampant because of Houston’s rains and humidity.
We water the roses early in the morning to avoid having wet leaves at night. The roses need 2 inches of water a week. They love lots of water.
Picking
We pick roses almost everyday, and we cut off all the dead heads. We make potpourris all year except the last of December, January, February, and part of March (months when we usually have no rose petals).
Additions To Potpourri
To add other items to potpourri, use a glass bowl or nonreactive crockery, and with a wooden spoon, stir in orange, lemon, lime or tangerine peeling that have been dried over the water heater after cutting strips of peel into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Whole spices such as cinnamon pieces, whole nutmegs, cloves, allspice, and coriander add fragrance and interest. So do cedar shavings. Men like this fragrance.
While it is fun to add lots of things to potpourri, especially with grandchildren helping, I have found that the fragrances of herb leaves do not hold up. Over time the main fragrance still comes from oil. With this in mind, I do not add herbs, but I do add extra color by way of dried flowers, e.g. bachelor buttons (Globe Amaranth), gomprena (Gomphrena globosa), and blue or purple statice (Limonium).
Individual Potpourris
Buy a box of corsage sacks from the florist. Open the sacks, stand them up in something to hold them, and put three handfuls of potpourri in each sack.
To strengthen the fragrance, add a little fixative and a few drops of oil. Using Elmer’s glue, paste a pressed dried pansy onto a colored index card that harmonizes with the flowers.
Write the name of the potpourri and your name on the card.
Herbs
I plant coriander seeds in November, basil in April, and make cuttings from my rose geranium bush after frost.
I grow, harvest, and dry the herbs and put them in bottles for cooking. I save the seeds and start all over when weather is right.
I enjoy having lots of aromatic seedlings to give my garden club members.
I use herbs for taste in cooking, and use rose geranium, purple basil and mint in flower arranging.
My association with colorful flowers and fragrant herbs and potpourris has had a curative effect on me of keeping away stress, boredom, loneliness and producing a healthy life. That is the reason I have lived to be 90 years old.
Montaigne wrote that scent has the power “to comfort, to quicken, to rouse, and to purify the senses, so that we might be the apter and readier unto comtemplation.” (source: The Fragrant Garden by Louise Beebe Wilder).
Note: This article appeared in the July/August 1999 issue of TEXAS GARDENER on pages 34-37