The Sensual Rose Garden Experience

February 25, 2013May 7, 2013 Gaga

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses ~ Hanna Rion

 

Your garden will engage all your senses if you are open to the power that surrounds you there. Five senses will be enrapt, certainly. The 6^th perhaps. You can experience your garden on a much deeper level. Because unexplained things happen there.

Visual – Sight

The visual impact of a garden is immediate. A catch of your breath, a sudden intake of air as you watch the glorious first light glistening on a dewdrop cascading across a spiderweb. This is indescribable in nature. And yet there are certain things about the colors of your garden I know for a fact you have not begun to see. Every part of the day your garden changes color. Your eye, an aperture, the day, a time lapse, each moment a changed landscape. It is a panorama of magic. Every moment of bloom that you have missed a glimpse of is time never to be seen again. Heat, cool, a baby’s breath, can and do open a flower. The visual landscape changes every second, whether dramatic or subtle. A tornado or a whisper changes the landscape of your garden. Be present in the moment.

Fragrance – Smell

Fragrance is the expected appeal to roses. Many roses have a heady, lovely fragrance. Did you know some roses give off their fragrance at different times of the day? It’s true. Roses you thought had no fragrance often have a scent in early morning hours or at dusk.  It’s about subtly. These garden messengers speak at their own times not when we want to summon them. Be open to their fragrance when they choose to release them. Rose oil is one of the most expensive oils in the world due to the fact it takes 60,000 roses to produce 1 ounce of essential rose oil. Its still a component in 46% of men’s & 98% of women’s fragrance although largely synthetic due to the cost to produce natural rose oil.

And To Touch- 

To touch each flower is to experience each rose differently. Petals can have softness unique to a plant or a rose bud. Have you ever experienced leaning in to smell a fragrance and felt the gentle brush of a rose petal against your cheek? There’s no softness like it. Every way imaginable I have felt roses. I have clipped so many roses my neighbors have scolded me about deadheading roses that should be in vases. I have stepped on thorns that penetrated my sandals and felt a chill to my hairline. I have crushed a rose hip between my fingers to see if I could feel essential oils. Do this. Crush some rose petals and feel the silky texture on your skin.

To Hear

The sounds of the rose canes rustling in the garden can create a cacophony. You can go to the garden to meditate in silence or you can go there to work and sweat. I have clipped so many roses my neighbors have scolded me about deadheading roses that should be in vases. Sometimes during the height of a bloom cycle the shear weight of rose petals in the recycle bag can be so heavy I can’t lift it and I can hear the sound of dragging the bag across the lawn. I can hear the sound of clippers right at this very minute. You can go to the garden to meditate in silence or you can go there to listen to gentle breezes. But there is sound in the garden from simple little insects to crickets, bird’s chirping and rabbits scampering away. My son gave me wind chimes called Corinthian Bells for Mother’s Day several years ago. The sound of the wind chimes in the early dawn gently call you to the garden. You can find them at whimsicalwinds.com

To Taste

Rose-hips are natures natural Vitamin C and many other good things. When roses are allowed to make seeds these seeds are called rose hips. Rosehips are a source of Vitamin C. Rosehip Tea which is a source of iron has been used to treat anemia and has also been used as an anti-depressant. Rosehips also contain pectin which also aids in digestion. The list is long in all the good ways that rosehips are used.  And you can drink it in. Here’s the recipe for rose petal tea.

Rose Petal Tea

Ingredients

2 cups fresh fragrant rose petals (about 15 large roses)*

3 cups water sugar to taste

Honey, pure natural agave sweetener, or sugar

* All roses used for tea or consumption must be free of pesticides. Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries, or garden centers. In many cases these flowers have been treated with pesticides not labeled for food crops. Fragrant flowers make the best tea.
Preparation:

Clip and discard the white bases of the rose petals; rinse the rose petals thoroughly. Pat dry. In a small sauce pan over a medium-heat, place the prepared rose petals. Cover with water and bring to a simmer; let simmer for approximately 5 minutes, or until the petals become darkened.

Remove from heat and strain the hot rose petal liquid into teacups. Add honey or sweetener to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

6th Sense

And the 6^th sense, what do you feel in the garden? Prayers? Premonitions? I would love to hear about your 6th sense in the garden, won’t you share with us your experiences that are outside the 5 senses?