Donna, Very interesting account; thanks for posting! I've been sighing over ramblers and climbers for some years now, because although I have plenty of room, I have neither trees nor structures to grow them on. That is, I have a few, and they're all taken. My dream is to figure out how we can afford to take a chunk of our land off the lease agreement that currently governs it and extend our garden into it. I would plant a line of ramblers and big shrubs along the tractor road on one side of the property, and plan for some kind of pergola. We do have a strip of woods along the edge of our garden, and the edge of the tractor road above it is planted thick with every kind of rambler and climber: we take cuttings, and the rooted plants have to go somewhere! I'm a fan of once-blooming roses because, as you say, they don't ask for much. I also like scent. Your 'Gardenia' sounds like my kind of rose. Melissa

Suzy, To make a spritzer, the easiest thing to do is buy a small bottle of 'pure lavender essential oil'; (EO) from your health food store. Just make sure the label says that exactly. Some "fragrance oils" are actually carrier oils like canola or almond oil that has had a few drops of pure essential oil of lavender added to it - you can do that yourself with pure EO and much more. Plus carrier oils are oily to the touch, pure EOs are not oily to the touch, they absorb quickly into the skin. That's another way to tell but best bet is to look for proper label wording and read the ingredient list -- there should be only one ingredient: pure essential oil of lavender. With pure EO you can just put 10 drops in a 4oz spritzer with some distilled water, shake well and spritz your skin. Lavender is great for the face, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. I use this to set my pure minteral make up powders. Plus you'll have a whole bottle left for other things like: *Swirl 20 drops on top of your bath water before you step into the tub -- for relaxing and stress relief, lavender can help you sleep and the warm water helps it get further into your skin. *A few drops on a piece of cotton, tuck that into an old cotton sock and put that into your pillowcase for scent to sleep by, again helps w/relaxation *A few drops of the pure oil on a burn, immediately - yes it works to take the sting out and prevent blistering. This is an essential natural first aid in the kitchen and will NOT hurt the burn -- this oil absorbs almost immediately into your skin penentrating at the cellular level to heal. It is not like butter which Drs. wisely advise against as it seals in heat. Google Rene Gatefosse for the full story on lavender oil and burns... *A few drops on cotton balls stashed in pots and other out of the way spots in rooms you'd like to scent naturally *Mix about 4-6 drops per oz of unscented natural body lotion to make your own lavender lotion. I like Trader Joe's brand - just make sure there is no mineral oil or petrolatum/petroleum products in the lotion. *Mix about 4-6 drops per oz of pure canola oil to use as a massage oil. Great for sore feet. Add some pure EO of peppermint to make it really refreshing. *Mix a few drops into a mister filled with rose water or orange blossom water which you can purchase from a middle eastern grocery for a two note fragrance spritz instead of using distilled water. Obviously if you buy another EO that you like the fragrance of, you can mix some of that in too for a light spritzer of 3 notes. Mandarin and graprefruit are wonderful light oils for summer. Be careful, I ended up with over 40 EOs because I got hooked on mixing fragrance! Kept cool and in dark bottles/away from sun, they last forever though... On your questaions: Yes you can pull fragrance from plant materials using alcohol but don't use rubbing alcohol - it smells bad, just take a whiff and you'll see what I mean, very harsh. Vodka has no scent - it's the closet alcoholic's favorite for this reason - that's why it's used but the highest proof will be most effective. Yes you have need to strain out the plant materials and after you are finished with your extraction process you can add some distilled water (non-distilled might let bacteria grow). You will also need to add copious amounts of plant materials to the soaking jar (I'd use a mason with lid), crushing the flowers down into a small amount of liquid over a period of weeks to get some fragrance into the vodka. Placing on a warm windowsill will probably help speed the process. Rose is probably a better choice as you can gather a lot of petals if you grow a few bushes in your yard. With lavender, the scent comes from the flowers and you'll need a lot of them. I think it takes about 2000 lbs of lavender blossoms to steam distill out just a pound of pure essential oil. Obviously leaching the oils out in alcohol is not quite the same and will result in a much weaker fragrance than steam distillation done professionally. Go get some lavender essential oil and maybe a few others and begin playing!

I sort of envy people who find a scent that works for them and becomes their "signature" scent. I rarely wear any perfume, only because I don't think of it, but a good friend just gave me Jo Malone's grapefruit perfume for my birthday. I love it! I've been wearing it every day. I also have Chanel Allure, and Sarah Jessica Parker's first perfume (I think she may have come out with another one after the one I have, not sure). I also have a good "everyday" light spray called Fresh Cotton? or something like that, from Bath & Body Works. I like it in the summer when you just want a spray of something light.

There are two others sources (besides MMS) for "Vanilla Bean Noel" listed on Felicity's Fragrance Finder. But I haven't tried either one... anyone else familiar with these two? Vanilla Bean Noel (type) Cheri's Country Cottage www.cheriscountrycottage.com Duplication: Bath & Body Works - "...a sweet vanilla spice & roasted hazelnuts!" Tri-State Candle Supplies tristatecandlesupply.safeshopper.com Skin safe. FYI... link below is to Felicity's Fragrance Finder... a place you will want to bookmark if you haven't already! Here is a link that might be useful: Fragrance Finder