Name: Rose (eng.)/ Ruža (cro.)
Latin name: Rosa
Roses are one of the most favorite flowers of women around the world, because of its beauty and delicateness. Roses are more than a token of love and appreciation, they have been used as a remedy for many years. Despite their tender look, these are very hardy plants, know to survive even in the most hostile environments. What they do need is water, plenty of it, without it they will not produce its beautiful flowers.
One of the most common usages of rose flowers, to be precise its petals, are in different rose oils and waters. Rose water and oil are often used in high-end skin care products, because of its calming effect on skin and help with irritation. One of many reasons why rose oils are so expensive is that it takes a lot of petals to create a small amount of oil.
Wild roses produce rose hips, which are loaded with vitamins A, C and E. During the World War II, according to a few sources, English government ordered that all of rose hips had to be harvested and a syrup to be made, as fruits were unavailable at that time. There is research that states that rose hips have 60% more vitamin C than citrus fruit. Nowadays, dried rose hips are commonly available in most health food stores. You can use them as is in a dry mix for your parrots or as a immune busting tea. Roses have made more than a few steps into cooking- from vine to jellies and various sweets.
If you have roses in your garden, you can collect petals before they fall to the ground and use them later, either in teas or dry mixes. You can also buy teas made out of rose buds. How they were made is simple- rose buds are collected while still young and fairly small, than they are dried and used for making teas.
Rose tea has many benefits, but should be used in moderation as it can cause diarrhea. One of many plus sides to rose tea is that it acts as a natural relaxant. It soothes and helps calm the nervous system. I use rose petals, flowers and buds in a dry/ tea mix. It’s a mixture of herbs and flowers that help you, well in these case my parrots, to calm down a bit. It’s meant to be used either as a calming tea or sprinkled over their foods. I’ll show you the mixture in another post.