Herb Demonstrations at the US National Arboretum

Mary Lou Winder demonstrates herbal jewelry making
Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

Today my husband and I went for a walk at the US National Arboretum and happened upon their free "Under the Arbor Herb Demonstrations". What a pleasant surprise and blessing! According to a National Herb Society representative, 2012's herb of the year is the rose. Most of the demonstrations focused on roses. In the above photo you can see Mary Lou Winder making beads from roses. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see some of her hand made rose jewelry (earrings at the bottom left and necklaces at the bottom right of the photo). This was, to me, the most amazing part of the event. I'd never heard of jewelry made from roses before and Ms. Winder kindly explained the process and demonstrated the last two steps for me.

People discussing herbs and looking at the variety of $1-$3 herbs for sale
(there was a sign indicating that proceeds went to charity)
Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

National Herb Society, Tidewater Division, Year of the Rose Display
Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

Display of herbal products made with roses
Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

All of the displays were fun and had interactive elements. I was able to try a handmade rose petal salve and they even had some handmade chocolate candy balls made with rose hips (I didn't try any because it had powdered sugar which often has corn starch and I'm allergic to corn and all of its by products but it looked yummy.)

If you want to see some of my husband's and my US National Arboretum photos I have a photo tour of their Famous Azalea Walk as well has some rainy day foliage photos taken on Earth Day 2012. Hope you have a pleasant surprise in store for you this weekend. May God bless you!

Have you had a pleasant surprise lately? I'd love to hear about it!

Disclosure: I wrote this voluntarily and wasn't asked to write it. As usual with most of my posts (unless specifically specified otherwise) I have no financial relationship with any of the people or organizations mentioned in this post although I am a frequent visitor of the US National Arboretum.