I haven't always loved roses... I considered them cliche. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the subtleties of how the petals arrange themselves and change color as they bloom. I noticed the different colors and gloss varieties of each breed's leaves. Every rose has a different aroma~ some not at all. So, when I moved to this house, I planted 6 rosebushes. Why? Because I thought they were beautiful. Since planting, my roses have been very blessed with abundances of blooms. They grow larger every year and the blooms become more plentiful. This picture is 5 of my bushes (the 6th is a little off to the left out of frame.) The two end roses are red and cream colored and have a tea rose fragrance. The two inner ones are cream colored with very intricate pin-wheel style petal patterns. The one with the most roses on it in the picture is the fragrant one, the other one has no fragrance. The center bush is the smallest with very fragrant buds. They are purplish-pink. The one out of frame is actually a purple-blue and are the MOST fragrant. This year, I decided that instead of wasting these beauties by just trimming them off, I am going to pluck the scented petals and use them. Why not?
Oops, just noticed my finger in the frame. Oh well, you can see that I've got all my nicely scented petals in the pot with some water (you can't see the water lol). This is my canning pot, with a pyrex dish in the center. I'm going to distill these petals to capture rosewater. You can't tell in the photo, but the petals fill this container about 10 inches! I had to scrunch them down to be able to place the dish in the center.
Now this is old school. I put the lid on upside-down so that as the water boils, it will drip into the center dish. The ice on top will no doubt need to be changed, but this is what I have to work with. The pot is cooking as I type this. I'm going to boil the water and condense it into the pyrex bowl so that I can have some rosewater to use in future lotions. It smells so good, and I won't have to use any synthetic fragrance to scent it. How does that sound?