DIY Life

Working out in my yard this past week, I was taken with the fragrance of my lilac bush. It is so easy to forget from season to season how amazingly aromatic the lilac blossoms are.

I've written in the past about creating a fragrant herb garden, but how about those other flowering plants and bushes that scent your yard with their lush fragrance? You can create a garden alive with the scents of the season that satisfies your olfactory sense as well as the visual.

The Helpful Gardener has a comprehensive list of fragrant trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals for each of the blooming seasons: spring, summer, and autumn. They even list some winter plants that can emit some scent. Some of my favorites caught my eye: lilac, jasmine, lavender, lilies (choose Asian for the strongest fragrance). They even mention chocolate cosmos; everyone likes the scent of chocolate!

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

I made several batches of soap today. There is nothing quite like being surrounded by the scent of essential oils, blending them, inhaling them. Ahhhhh...

Sometimes I wish they weren't so expensive, because I would do a pure rose otto soap, which would only be about a hundred dollars a bar! Or how about a dripping-in-neroli body butter? Well, OK, I might do that last one if I were feeling particularly decadent.

One of the fun things about becoming skilled at blending is the way you can stretch your expensive luxury scents with other more affordable essential oils to create scents that satisfy, without breaking the bank -- too much anyway!

After the break, I'll discuss floral waxes and give away some blending secrets you don't want to miss.