I had the loveliest day in the @westernreserveherbsociety garden yesterday. Dye is often a tough garden to explain to our guests because most often you’d call our plants “weeds” albeit ancient and useful ones. Our plants in dye share a common bond with the plants in our medicinal section … they’re not always pretty and you can’t really see who they are or what they do, because the dyes or medicines often come from roots stems and leaves, not the pretty flowers, which are more than likely a bonus! Since I became responsible for this part of the garden I’ve been on a quest to make it more relatable, and that means including some of the more common plants like lavenders, iron weed, mulleins, berries and roses, things that people can look at and think to themselves… “ oh ok, they’d squish the berries and get purple dye….or sure, a red rose would make a pretty pink dye!” So to make a long story short, Richard our newest honorary member whom I refer to as our personal “ Rose Whisperer” has been helping me accomplish this task and I’ve been able to transplant at least 4 different varieties into the Dye garden with his help! Yesterday he gave me a really precious gift. He had to clean up one of my favorites , a rowdy and sweetly fragrant Burnet Rose that had grown gangly and overbearing. I mean this rose is a solid one with its roots back in the 1600’s so it’s got amazing survival skills. Richard had a perfect specimen for me with a healthy root ball and just the right size for a place I’ve been struggling with structurally in the garden. In it went with his help and we trimmed it up a bit and it will be glorious next year when it’s blooming right next to the Elderberry with the Rosa Tuscany’s blooming at its base. The hips that the Burnet produces are my favorites of all, they’re deep burgundy black which produces a beautiful dye color and they’re spicy like cinnamon and are wonderful for teas. I can’t wait until next spring 🌸 #roses #historicroses #dyeplants #westernreserveherbsociety #rosewitch #visualstoryteller #schooloftheseasons #theschooloftheseasons #herbalist (at The Herban Inn) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVQqjlypWGd/?utm_medium=tumblr
