You may be surprised that roses are herbs if you think of them only as beautiful cut flowers for bouquets. But the definition of an herb is any plant useful for flavoring, medicine, or perfume. And roses are used for all of these purposes.
It's no surprise that roses are used for perfumes, but did you know that roses are edible? Don't snack on your Mother's Day bouquet, though, commercial floral roses are sprayed with a great many toxic chemicals to induce the plants to produce those big robust flowers.
It is of course the medicinal properties of roses that we are interested in here at Coyote Cove. I use roses in two forms: rosehip oil and rose essential oil, also called rose otto. Rosehips are the fruit of the rose plant, and rosehip oil is very high in GLA (gamma linoleic acid), a fatty acid very useful for skin problems including eczema and psoriasis, and to reduce scarring and to heal burns. It is the best anti-aging oil for mature skin. I use rosehip oil in Eczema Cream, Anti-Wrinkle Oil and Anti-Wrinkle Lotion, Beautiful Cuticles, and in my face creams, Sandalwood Face Cream and Lavender Rose Face Cream.
Rose essential oil has an extraordinarily complex chemistry-much like women!-and it is considered a "feminine" oil. Nicholas Culpepper, a 17th century physician and herbalist, described the rose as being governed by Venus. It has a therapeutic effect on the female reproductive system and is wonderful for the skin, especially mature, dry, or sensitive skin. Aromatherapist Patricia Davis believes that the mental and emotional effects of rose otto are maybe even more important than its considerable physical effects. It is an antidepressant and aphrodisiac (is anyone besides me picturing rose petals strewn on beds?) useful for grief, stress, depression, "relationship trouble", and even lack of confidence in yourself as a woman.
Which brings us to the title of this edition of the newsletter, "Where Have All the Roses Gone?" The number of rose-scented products we make at Coyote Cove is steadily declining, due to the high cost of rose otto. It takes approximately sixty thousand rose petals to produce one ounce of rose otto! I buy my essential oils in sixteen ounce bottles, and one bottle of rose otto costs twenty five hundred dollars. So, Coyote Cove Rose Petals Soap is a distant memory, we made our last batch a couple of years ago. At one point when using my last few precious drops of rose otto I believed all of our rose products were going the way of the soap. Then--surprise!--I found a tiny bottle of rose otto hiding in the back of my cabinet. It was like finding a stash of gold! So I do currently make a few rose products as I hoard that last little bottle, including Rose Petals Lotion, Rose Petals Sugar Scrub, and Rose Petals Bath Salts. When I am sold out of these products I will probably discontinue them entirely, at least until I can buy another bottle, and then they will likely be at a higher price.
Is rose worth the high cost? Is the Herb of the Year worth $2500 a pound? The rose has traditionally been called the "Queen of Flowers", and there is no doubt that it is special. It has other therapeutic effects, notably on the GI system and the urinary system, but there are other herbs that can do the same thing at a lower cost. But the rose has no peer in the area of skin care, reproductive health, and the emotional benefits mentioned above. My mom always said "You get what you pay for", meaning that cheap things are usually, well, cheap, and expensive things usually have some intrinsic value. So maybe rose otto is worth the cost to those who want it and are
willing to pay for it.
Happy Mother's Day and a virtual bouquet of roses to all the mothers out there. Give a mom a hug today!
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