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Costmary leaves are strong-tasting and should be used with
caution. Recipes call, for instance, for only a single leaf in a
meat or vegetable stew, and for only one in chicken fricassee.
One feminine suggestion of putting a leaf of costmary into an
Old-fashioned Cocktail provokes violent masculine shudders,
but less controversial is its use in lemonade.
Damask Rose (Rosa damascena)
Rose Family
(Rosaceae)
Roses in the herb garden are almost a necessity-but not the
fine, showy hybrid tea roses or the hybrid perpetuals. The
latter are far more handsome, but it was about the damask,
eglantine and Provence roses that the poets have raved for
centuries, for these are the plants that have the finest fragrance
and flavor of all roses. None, of course, are perennials, for all
of them are shrubs, but they are best grown in the perennial
herb garden and therefore included here.
The damask and Provence roses are probably the most
fragrant in the world and the basis for many perfumes. Both
originally were single roses, but often come double, and it is
suggested that the herb gardener get these old-fashioned
varieties to ensure fragrance and flavor. Once established, both
the damask and Provence roses (often called the French rose)
are easy to maintain, for they are perfectly hardy over most of
the country.
It is important to specify exactly what you need for roses
in the herb garden, and as some catalogs are confusing it is well
to detail the specifications:
Damask Rose (Rosa damascena). A form of it is the York
and Lancaster rose, but avoid this. Some old catalog
names are Rosa belgica and Rosa polyanthos, both now in-
correct.
Provence Rose (Rosa gallica). Often called the French rose,
and one of the sources of attar of roses.
Eglantine (Rosa eglanteria). This is often called the sweet-
brier in this country.
These three are the roses for the herb garden. In the first
two the petals are used, both fresh and dried for flavoring all
sorts of dishes and candies, whereas the eglantine is grown
mostly for its "hips." These are the fleshy, swollen flower base
that ultimately encloses the fruit. Modern research has shown
that rose hips are rich in vitamins.
Once established in the herb garden, these old-fashioned
"species" roses (so called because they are not modern hybrids)
arc far easier to grow than their showy-flowered prototypes.
To them the herb gardener and discriminating cook will turn
with delight and will echo the old herbalist who wrote in
1525, "Dry roses put to the nose to smell do comfort the
brayne and the herte and quickeneth the spyryte."
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