In Adatepe, summer does not end all at once.
First, the light begins to change. Evenings grow a little cooler, and the garden’s scents seem to take on a different quality. The sun is still strong, but nature is quietly preparing for another season.
In İda Blue’s garden, late summer has its own small rituals. One of them is gathering the aromatic herbs that have grown under the sun all summer, drying them, and keeping their scents for the winter months.
Thyme, lavender, sage, scented geranium, and linden flowers…
These plants, so much at home in the landscape of the Kaz Mountains, are also a lovely reminder of the relationship we build with the garden in the final days of summer: taking only what we need from nature, never rushing, and knowing how to carry a little of one season into the next.
Gathering Is Part of the Ritual
The first step in drying aromatic herbs is gathering them at the right time.
In general, aromatic herbs are best gathered after the morning dew has dried. For many herbs grown for their leaves, the period before flowering is one of the times when their scent and aroma are especially pronounced. Every plant, however, has its own rhythm; with plants such as linden, whose flowers are used, it is important to catch the right moment in the flowering season.
But at İda Blue, this is about more than choosing the right hour.
Going into the garden, noticing which branches are ready to be cut, leaving enough stems and leaves for the plant to continue growing, and gathering only as much as we will use are all part of the process.
Because sometimes sustainability begins not with grand ideas, but with how much we gather from the garden.
Thyme: From Summer Tables to the Winter Kitchen
The scent of thyme is almost inseparable from the warmth of summer. The rich aroma released when its leaves are gently rubbed between the fingers can bring back memories of hot summer days even months later.
Thyme is particularly well suited to air drying. Healthy stems can be gathered into small bundles and hung upside down in a dry, airy place away from direct sunlight.
One important detail is not to make the bundles too large. Allowing air to move between the stems helps them dry properly.
Once the leaves are completely dry and crumble easily, they can be separated from the stems. If possible, however, it is better not to crumble them immediately. Keeping dried aromatic leaves whole and crushing them by hand only when we are ready to use them helps their aroma last longer.
After that, the kitchen takes over: a sprinkle over a winter soup, an olive-oil dish, a salad, or a loaf of bread fresh from the oven…
The moment you open the jar, summer returns.
Lavender: Bringing the Garden’s Scent Home
Lavender is perhaps one of the plants whose presence remains most vivid even after drying.
Its flowers can be tied into small bundles with their stems and hung upside down in a shaded, airy place. Once completely dry, the flowers can be gently separated from the stems.
Depending on how they will be used, they can then be placed in small glass jars or fabric sachets.
A linen sachet filled with dried lavender can be tucked into a drawer or linen cupboard. It can be displayed in a small bowl, or simply held in the palm of the hand and enjoyed for its scent from time to time.
Because sometimes the purpose of keeping a plant is not necessarily to consume it.
Sometimes, we simply want to keep its scent.
Sage: Leaves to Keep for Winter
With its thick, resilient leaves, sage is also well suited to traditional air drying.
After gathering, healthy stems can be tied into small bundles and hung in a dry, airy place. Making sure the leaves are completely dry is one of the most important parts of the storage process.
Dried sage leaves can be kept whole in glass jars. That way, only a few leaves need to be taken out when needed.
What moves us most at İda Blue, however, is the transformation itself: how a living plant in the garden can be carried from one season to another through a few simple gestures.
Scented Geranium: The Fragrance That Lingers
One of the loveliest things about scented geranium is that it does not need to flower to reveal its fragrance.
The moment you gently touch its leaves, its scent becomes apparent. Depending on the variety, it may bring to mind rose, lemon, or greener, fresher notes.
Healthy leaves from the scented geranium that fills the garden with fragrance throughout summer can be gathered after the morning moisture has evaporated. To dry them, spread the leaves in a single layer on a clean cloth or drying surface, without overlapping them. Choose a shaded, dry place with good air circulation rather than direct sunlight.
Once completely dry, the leaves can be placed whole in glass jars. Keeping them uncrumbled until we are ready to use them helps preserve their scent as much as possible.
Scented geranium also has a lovely place in the kitchen. In traditional recipes, it is used to perfume jams and sherbets; suitable edible varieties can also be used in desserts and drinks.
But for us, perhaps the loveliest thing about scented geranium is something much simpler:
Brushing past it in the garden, gently rubbing a leaf between our fingers, and carrying its scent on our hands for a little while.
Sometimes, that is all we need to remember a garden.
Linden: A Summer Memory for Winter
Linden has a slightly different story. We know it mostly not for its leaves, but for its fragrant flowers and the pale bracts that accompany them.
Carefully gathered during the flowering season, linden flowers can be dried in a thin layer in a dry, airy place away from direct sunlight. It is important not to compress the delicate flowers and to allow air to circulate around them during drying.
Once completely dry, they should be stored away from light and moisture.
Perhaps linden has one of the most meaningful places in this story. For many of us, its scent is directly connected with winter.
Gathered in summer, remembered in winter.
When we open the jar on a cold day, we encounter not only a dried plant, but also the season in which we gathered it.
The Art of Drying Without Rushing
One of the simplest ways to dry aromatic herbs is also one of the oldest: air.
Resilient plants such as thyme and sage can be hung in small bundles. Plants whose leaves we prefer to dry separately, such as scented geranium, can be spread out in a single layer. Lavender can be dried in small bundles with its stems, while the delicate flowers of linden require a gentler approach.
What they all have in common is the need to avoid strong, direct sunlight, provide a dry environment, and allow air to circulate around the plants.
Herbs should be completely dry before they are stored. If moisture or condensation appears inside a jar after they have been placed in it, the drying process is not yet complete.
This small detail matters, because remaining moisture can lead to mold.
Knowing When the Herbs Are Ready
Drying time can vary depending on the type of plant, the temperature, and the humidity of the environment. Rather than relying only on the number of days that have passed, it is important to pay attention to the condition of the plant.
When the leaves are completely dry and crumble easily, they are ready to be stored. If possible, however, it is better not to crumble them immediately. Keeping them whole until we are ready to use them helps their aroma last longer.
If moisture or condensation appears inside the jar, the drying process is not yet complete. In that case, the herbs should be returned to an airy place to dry further.
Because when keeping summer’s scent for winter, one of the most important details is to place only completely dried herbs into the jar.
Nothing New Is Needed to Keep Summer’s Scent
The materials we use to keep summer’s scents for winter are also part of our relationship with nature.
There is no need to buy new storage containers for this.
Glass jars already used in the kitchen, with well-fitting lids, can be thoroughly cleaned, dried completely, and reused. Small sachets for lavender can be made from leftover cotton or linen fabric. Natural twine can be used to tie the bundles.
Once the dried herbs are placed in glass jars, the name of the plant and the date it was gathered can also be written on the label.
After that, all they need is a cool, dry place away from direct light.
This seemingly small habit both reduces the need for single-use packaging and gives new life to materials already found in the kitchen.
Five Scents, Five Memories from the Garden
Thyme, lavender, sage, scented geranium, and linden flowers…
Each has its own gathering time, drying method, scent, and use. But they all share something: the possibility of carrying a little of the beauty they offer in their season into another time.
The warm, powerful scent of thyme, the familiar aroma of lavender, the velvety leaves of sage, the fragrance that scented geranium leaves on our hands at the slightest touch, and the linden flowers that remind us of winter…
As summer draws to a close in İda Blue’s garden, what we are doing is not simply drying plants.
In a way, we are simply putting a little summer away for winter.
Can We Hold on to a Season?
Perhaps not entirely.
But we can hold on to its scent.
In a handful of thyme, a warm afternoon. In a small lavender sachet, a summer evening in the garden. In sage leaves, the long days spent under the sun. In scented geranium, the fragrance left on our hands as we pass through the garden. In linden flowers, the first signs of the approaching winter.
Adatepe teaches us not to stop the seasons, but to notice them.
Drying a few stems gathered from the garden at the end of summer is one of the simplest examples of this.
Taking what nature offers at the right time, gathering only what we need, keeping it with care, and remembering it again when the time comes…
Perhaps this is exactly what it means to live in rhythm with the seasons.
