How to Make Potpourri
Origins of these fragrant floral bundles and how long they last
In today's world of scented candles, air fresheners, and plug-in deodorizers, it seems quaint to dry flowers and use them as potpourri to freshen your home. However, learning to make potpourri is easy, the supplies are inexpensive, and it's an excellent way to reuse and recycle while limiting the chemicals you use in your home. Deadhead faded flowers from your yard or bouquets of cut stems, and read on to learn the next steps.
What Is Potpourri?
Potpourri is a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl or sachet to scent a drawer or space. It translates from the French meaning "putrid pot" because it was placed in a small pot in a room to cover the foul odor of chamber pots. Its second meaning is "a medley," much like the mixture of flowers used to form potpourri. Potpourri's fragrance can last a few months to a few years and lasts the longest if kept in protective, covered glass containers.
Before You Begin
Choose your potpourri flower and plant material. The best flowers for potpourri are those that retain their color and shape when you dry them, such as rose buds. It's also a bonus if they are fragrant, but you can always add fragrance. It's better not to use too many fragrant flowers, as the perfumes can clash.
Annual flowers you can grow and harvest for potpourri include the following:
Excellent perennial flower choices for potpourri include:
- Lavender
- Rose (especially in bud)
- Dianthus
- Chrysanthemum
Half of the appeal of a good potpourri mix is visual, so consider supplementing your flowers with the following natural materials you gather from woods and fields around your home or items from within your home, including:
- Seed pods
- Small pine cones
- Whole nutmeg berries
- Whole cloves
- Dried citrus rind
- Whole star anise
- Cinnamon sticks
Finally, no one will think you're cheating if you add a sprinkling of craft and hobby store mixers, like sandalwood chips, eucalyptus leaves, and tonka beans. Here's how to turn your gathered materials into a "scent-sational" potpourri.
What You'll Need
Equipment / Tools
- Garden scissors
- Airtight container (optional)
- Soft cosmetic or paint brush (optional)
- Hooks or nails (optional)
- Wooden mixing spoon
- Baskets, jars, or bowls for display
- Sachets or handkerchiefs
Materials
- Dried flowers and gathered material selection
- 1 container silica gel (optional)
- Twine, string, or rubber bands (optional)
- Unscented hairspray (optional)
- Fixative choice
- 1 bottle essential oil choice
Instructions
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Dry Your Flowers and Materials
Dry your freshly picked ingredients for a few days or, at the most, a couple of weeks. The materials you plan to dry should be pliable and not yet brittle. Silica gel and air drying are two popular ways to dry flowers.
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Using Silica Gel to Dry Flowers and Materials
The traditional way of drying whole or large flowers using salt or sand preserves the color, but it was messy and took weeks. Today, silica gel (a drying agent) found in a craft store is quicker, less messy, and reusable.
- Trim off stems and leaves with garden scissors.
- Cover the bottom of an airtight container with a thick layer of silica gel (about 1 inch).
- Carefully place plant materials face down in the container and gently press them into the gel.
- Cover the tops of the flowers with another layer of gel. Cover the container tightly and leave it undisturbed in a dark, cool area.
- Check flowers daily to make sure they aren't turning too brittle. Thin or delicate flowers take two to three days; thicker, larger flowers may take up to seven days to dry out.
- Remove flowers when ready and lightly brush off (with hands or a soft cosmetic or paint brush) the silica gel from the petals.
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Using Air-drying to Dry Flowers and Materials
Air drying is one of the oldest ways of making potpourri.
- Tie flowers with foliage-stripped stems in twine, string, or rubber band bundles.
- Hang the bunches of flowers upside down on nails or hooks in a space without humidity for about a week until they are dry.
- To keep the shapes of the flower heads, lightly spray them with unscented hairspray.
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Prepare Your Flower Mix
When your flowers and other materials are dry and ready to mix for potpourri, trim any leaves and stems you may have left on them during the drying process. Also, remove petals or keep flowers whole, depending on how much texture you like in your potpourri.
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Choose a Fixative
Fixatives are natural or synthetic substances that reduce the evaporation rate of the oil and water in your potpourri plants.
Purchase a fixative to add to your potpourri to help the fragrance last longer. Fixatives can make up almost a quarter of your potpourri mix. Options include:
- Orris root, a popular powdered choice made from the rhizomes of irises, has a light floral fragrance
- Vanilla beans
- Oakmoss
- Angelica root
- Myrrh gum
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Choose an Essential Oil
Small vials of essential oils are another fragrance-boosting ingredient to add to your potpourri. Oils are richly fragrant and should be used sparingly, but an average potpourri bowl may have about eight to 10 drops mixed in. Essential oils can mirror the ingredients of your potpourri. Consider these popular oils:
- Rose
- Lavender
- Citrus
- Cinnamon
- Lemon
- Honeysuckle
- Bayberry
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Mix All the Materials
Mix the dried flowers, natural materials, fixatives, and oil in a bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon. After a month, the scents will be blended, and your potpourri will be fully ready, but you can also use it immediately.
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Display Your Potpourri
Choose any non-metal container or vessel to display your potpourri, as metals can react with the essential oil. Baskets, jars, and bowls are common potpourri holders. Choose a container with a perforated lid if pets or small children can't resist picking through the dried flowers, which are choking hazards.
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Create Potpourri Sachets
To create a sachet for scenting clothes and closets, tie or sew a scrap of pretty fabric or a lacy handkerchief together, and fill it with your mix. You can even give your pet's bedding a fresh spin through the dryer with a sewn sachet.
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How do you make rose petal potpourri?
In a bowl, combine 1 cup of dried rose petals with 1/4 cup of dried rosemary and 1/2 cup of dried lavender. Toss in 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves, cinnamon, dried rosebuds, and orange peels. Add a few drops of rose or lavender oil. Then, add 1/4 teaspoon of a fixative such as crushed orris root.
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What are some different uses for potpourri?
Potpourri is often used in drawers and closets to give clothing a fresh scent. They work well in musty spaces or air-tight containers, such as storage boxes and cupboards. They can also be used in bathrooms, cars, or to scent a bedroom.
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How do you activate potpourri?
Fixatives and essential oils preserve or intensify the perfumes in potpourri while steam and heat will activate or diffuse the scent.