Margarita Persico.com

I’m in love with roses. I like them in all shades — red, peach, pink, yellow, white … and even green, which I once saw in Manatí, Puerto Rico.

I’m also enamored with garlic. I use garlic in everything I can — salad dressings, vegetables and even juices. Yes, you read correctly. I juice carrots, beets, celery, ginger and tons of garlic. I drink this concoction especially when there are sick people around me, or I’m starting to fill ill. Garlic is my medicine. I grew up eating garlic, and since childhood it became my natural antibiotic, antifungal, anti-vampire.

But roses loving garlic is something I realized only a decade ago. I heard about it somewhere and started planting garlic bulbs next to my roses. Since then, “roses love garlic” became my gardening mantra.

I’ve had rose gardens for years and numerous times. While trying to grow chemical free roses, I’ve experienced mold setting on my rose bushes more than once. They got white dusty mold on their leaves, but most got black spots fringed with yellow rings known as “diplocarpon rosae,” a fungus.  As the disease spreads, the leaves turn yellow and fall.  Humid and wet weather makes it worse for roses, which love drier climate. Therefore, whenever I start to see my roses developing any type of fungus, I plant a garlic clove next to the bush. As a vampire fearing garlic, the fungus usually retreats.

There is a scientific explanation for that, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).

“Laboratory studies suggest that large quantities of fresh, raw garlic may have antiparasitic properties,” states UMMC on its web site. “Fresh garlic contains allicin, which is reported to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties.”

That is what has been protecting my roses. But garlic can work as great medicine not only for roses, but also for us.

“Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years, dating back to when the Egyptian pyramids were built,” reports the UMMC.

Garlic benefits cardiovascular disease, common cold and cancer, states the organization.

Garlic has been keeping me healthier, I’m sure. And as expected, did wonders for my roses here in Costa Rica, my new home. Last month I planted a garlic bulb next to each of my four miniature rose bushes on my window planters that developed the black fungus spots. And it worked — the fungus is already gone, and the garlic plants are growing.

Now I have four garlic plants, and soon I’ll also have homegrown garlic for my pesto. Voilà!