Everything’s Coming Up Roses

A Rose-Themed Garden Party

This was during the coronavirus pandemic, so holding the shower outside not only motivated me to get lots of work done on my garden but also lowered the risk of spreading COVID. We finally finished the courtyard style garden in our side yard that I had dreamed of for ages, and this garden party was the official opening of that garden, which I named the Mackinac Island Garden. It’s thrilling to see how much that garden has filled out in two years’ time, but I’ll share that with you in another post.

Rose Tea Party Menu

I chose roses as the theme for the bridal shower because Rose is my daughter-in-law’s middle name. I used roses and other edible flowers throughout the menu. These are ideas that you could use for any tea party, indoors or outside, or for any garden party—no matter what the theme. Here are the details.

Beverages:

You have to serve tea at a tea party, so I made rosehip tea and sweetened it just a bit with dried stevia leaves from my garden. I served this tea both warm and cold. I also made lemon balm water for those who prefer to drink water. I made edible flower ice cubes, too—a long-time favorite here at Chez Rea.

Savories:

Amaranth & Artichoke Tarts – I substituted fresh amaranth greens for frozen spinach in a spinach and artichoke recipe. Amaranth is easier to grow than spinach, and it looks prettier because it turns the filling pink.

Deviled Eggs – My mother-in-law made these, and we topped them with sage blossoms and Bachelor’s Buttons from my garden.

Garlic Scape Pesto & Chicken Tea Sandwiches – June is also garlic scape season, so I used my Great Scape Pesto to make tea sandwiches.  I simply spread the pesto on white bread, added chicken deli meat, and then cut the sandwiches into triangles. 

Cucumber Sandwiches – These were made with my favorite herb spread, “Chives and Dill.” If you’ve ever been to one of my herb talks, you’ve seen me demonstrate how to make that. Just use a food processor to blend cream cheese, chives, and dill. I also added mayonnaise to make it easier to spread on the bread.

Sweets:

Rose Cupcake Variations – I put crystalized rose petals on top of cherry chip mini-cupcakes iced with rosewater glaze. I also made rose swirls with buttercream icing on all of the chocolate mini-cupcakes and some of the cherry chip ones. And since I had a few rose shaped cupcake molds, I made some with both kinds of batter, cherry chip and chocolate, and coated them with rosewater glaze. These were displayed on small pedestals.

Rose Cream Scones – I followed a recipe from Tea Time Magazine and served these scones with Ambrosia Devon Custard. Before serving, I sprinkled both the scones and custard with dried rose petals.

Apple Roses – Our friend Holly brought lovely and tasty rose-shaped pies that she and her daughter had made.

Rose Butter Cookies – To make these, I added dried rose petals and a little rosewater to my favorite butter cookie recipe.

Strawberry Blossoms – Strawberries filled with a sweet cream mixture were made by our niece Dani with help from her little girl Alice.

As delightful as this bridal shower was, the wedding was even better! Even though the couple’s plans had to be altered due to a worldwide pandemic, our family is thankful that God allowed our son Roscoe to marry his beloved Emily on July 18, 2020. Their wedding was beautiful, the bride was gorgeous, and the groom was so happy he cried.

I hope that the ideas I’ve shared here will help you to enjoy some social events this summer—big or small, indoors or out. Please share this post, and drop a line in the reply section below to let me know of you make any of these treats.

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