Scottish wild rose, the dog rose, Rosa canina.It grows incredibly well here in the Highlands. You would not believe how abundantly it grows once you start noticing it. We have old bushes growing wild here on the croft. They have been here as long as I can remember and are probably older than me, and I am no spring chicken.The wild rose is the plant I chose for our branding. Rather than using the traditional Scottish thistle or heather, I was always drawn to the wild rose. It is so feminine. Soft pink and simple.When the bushes flower in June they are really beautiful.
Harvesting petals and hips
Both petals and the rose hips are harvested from the bushes here on the croft. As with the other plants I work with, I pick them on a nice sunny day. The best time to harvest the petals is usually mid morning, once the sun has been on them for a while and they are completely dry. By then the flowers have opened properly and are sitting in the sunshine. That is the perfect time to gather the petals. Later in the year I also collect the rose hips from the same bushes.
How I use wild rose
Wild rose is a lovely plant to work with and I use it quite extensively in our products.The petals are infused in oil and then used across several products. You will find them in our award winning Wild Scottish Rose Soap, in the body butter and in our Nourish Elixir body oil. I also use them in our solid hand cream. Two more products contain this ingredient - our delicious Lip Balm (which tastes like turkish delight), and also the fabulous face mask, made with pink clay and our organic rose hips.
It is a plant that has long been associated with caring for older skin, which is one of the reasons I like working with it.In the soap I combine the rose infusion with pink clay, the essential oils blend I work with in these products is rose geranium and ylang ylang. Together they make a gentle blend that works particularly well for more mature skin types, and smells amazing, although they are lovely for all skin as well. So it is definitely one of the plants that appears in quite a few different places across the range.
