What someone uses for cleansings or healings doesn't necessary work for you. You may not like the smell of it, so use, what is pleasant for you.

*Our first stop: Scents that make sense.
Collecting scented herbs has been going on for ages, long before most of us was born or even a twinkle in somone's eye. My opinion behind scented herb gathering, must have started clear back into the days of the "Dark Ages" (before dryer sheets, before Lysol� and before Spic & Span�).

Seriously, I would think living in a dark dank cave, would get a little smelly and a bit musty. I am almost certain a freshly broken pine bough was the first scented herb brought into the home/cave, and used for sweeping & to get the stink out. Another possibility; a gatherer might have picked several flowers and had plans on eating them, and just didn't eat them because they thought the flower was pretty.

They discovered it had a scent that was pleasant to the nose, and just enjoyed its' beauty, knowing there were others in the field near their home. Sure this is pure speculation, but the possibility is still there.
Selection of scented herbs is entirely up to the "gatherer",(that would be you) what you fragrance you like is entirely your preference.

The list is endless, so I'll list some of the most common used:Rose, lavendar, lilac, sandalwood, sweet flag, sweet peas, apple, pennyroyal & vanilla, are the most commonly sought after scents.

As well as gathering scented herbs/flowers, another common practice is to make potpourri's with them; there are two kinds of potpourri's wet & dry.

*Rose petals is one of the traditional ingredients used in making dry and/or moist potpourri, it is considered one of the "simples" of the aroma catagories. The listed common used scents are all considered "simples",meaning they can be used alone, for their own scent.

*wet/moist potpourri's The old way of making moist potpourri is as follows:

Gather your scented flowers and scented leaves & lay them into a container of glass, wood, or ceramic, plastic. Other than using clippers or scissors, avoid using metal as much as possible, it alters the fragrance, (metal utensils and containers tend to change the scent).

Place a weighted plate on top of them (for compression), let it sit for several weeks.Once the fermenting begins, let it sit for one - two weeks without stirring, until a compressed cake of the flowers is made. Break up the cake into small portions, and combine with spices, oils, and fixatives.

Let it blend for a couple more weeks, once it has blended evenly put it into a container that isn't clear.(it's not too pretty to look at, but it smells wonderfully).

After gathering, pull petals from the stem of the cuttings (rose) and any other spices, or oils to the petals and layer them in a wide mouthed jar with UNiodized salt.

Set aside for several weeks, stir the mixture every day, this causes bruising of the petals as well as combining throughly. Crush or grind seed pods before mixing with petals.

Once you have mixed all of your goodies evenly, place them in a wide mouthed jar, and seal tightly (we don't want the scent to escape) Every week or so, give it a good shake to evenly distribute the contents. In about 6 weeks or so you will have a lovely scented concoction that you've made on your own.

Once you've mastered making them, you'll want to record and label your mixtures.

One of my favorite feminine mixtures is what I would call "Summery Breezes", it is easy and aromatic.

There are other variations and I'm sure not all of you like what I like, but you can use these and eventually blend your own to your liking.