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Fridays friend – Rosemary: A friend to all
Rosemary: A friend to all
A participant in one of Bloom College’s first Herb and rose posy workshops was a keen gardener, craft enthusiast and home cook. Having never applied her eye for design or creative instincts to the ‘formal’ art of flower arranging, she came along to add another dimension to her skill set, and just to have a good time.
She created a beautiful posy and proudly took it home, pleased to have made something to impress her friends and to have learnt the techniques used to shape and tie posies. One of the things that most excited her, however, was finding yet another use for the rosemary in her garden.
Rosemary is indeed a good friend to the cooks, chefs, gardeners, bee-keepers, naturopaths, herbalists, florists and romantics of the world. Doesn’t that just about cover us all?
As a dietary herb, rosemary can be used fresh, dried or packed in vinegar. Its capacity to enhance lamb, chicken, vegetable and egg dishes is well known. Less well known perhaps are rosemary’s antiseptic, antibiotic, antispasmodic and analgesic properties and its memory-enhancing powers.
The leaves and flowers can be used to heal cuts, stings and bites. Busy gardeners – when observing a fresh ‘flesh wound’ from their zealous pursuits – have been known to chew rosemary and/or sage leaves to a pulp, apply the mass to the wound and fix it in place with a handkerchief or some other handy fabric, rather than seek indoor treatment options that would take them away from their labours of love for a moment or two longer.
Rosemary planted around the perimeter of a garden attracts bees all year round due to its extraordinarily prolific flowers and prolonged flowering period. It is a fantastic companion plant to dill, cabbage, broccoli and beans, and repels cabbage moth. Prunings from rosemary can be used around carrots to deter carrot fleas; they also keep moths and silverfish out of clothes storage areas.
Rosemary’s partnership with potatoes begins in the kitchen, though, as growing potatoes near rosemary in the garden isn’t good for the rosemary.
In many cultures and traditions, rosemary is used as a remembrance herb and in bridal bouquets as the herb of love and loyalty.
And if that’s not enough, rosemary essential oil (distilled from the leaves) blended with a carrier-oil and the oils of other garden plants including basil, lavender, geranium and thyme creates a stimulating bath mix. And rosemary is great for the skin and hair; it stimulates the hair follicles, relieves dandruff and itchy scalps and leaves ‘normal hair’ soft and shiny. All you have to do is brew some rosemary tea from dried leaves and store it in your refrigerator to use for rinsing your hair, to make soap, or to mix with oils for a scalp treatment.
Those who are pregnant or who have some medical conditions (including high blood pressure), are recommended to exercise caution and seek medical advice about the use of rosemary and other essential oils.
Whether you’re going to a wedding or a funeral, gardening or cooking or eating, making a posy or tea, or having a recovery session in your bath, there may be a place for rosemary in your weekend.
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