Ingredients from the kitchen shelf can be added for spicy overtones and a delicate herbal touch. Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and allspice, thyme, rosemary, mint, marjoram, and bay leaves can be used alone or blended with flowers. Be sure to save all your orange and lemon peels, which can be cut into strips and dried to add a piquant touch to spicy or floral potpourris.
While scent is the most important consideration in potpourri, it is not the only one. Color is important if the blend is to be displayed in a glass jar or open container, so bright blossoms should be included. Bulk is provided by larger whole flowers which also create air spaces so the fragrances can move about and blend. Some flowers, such as whole pint roses, suit all these needs.
Potpourri is the project that will use all those bits and pieces--broken tips, shattered flowers, and lost petals--that you’ve been collecting as you work with dried flowers. Even overbloomed strawflowers and slightly faded blossoms blend easily into potpourri, where the effected is created by the combination, not by a single flower. Strawflowers and globe amaranth add bulk and color, as do the tips of statice, plume celosia, yarrow, tansy, artemisia, and baby’s breath. Whole flowers can be added at the top.
When the potpourri smells and looks good, it is time to consider preserving and strengthening its scent. Orris, the dried root of the Florentine iris, is the best fixative, and should be used chipped, not powdered. It has no scent of its own, but helps others to last.
Since drying has evaporated some of the fragrant oils in the flowers, it is best to replace these with essential oils. Rose is the most versatile of these, blending well with nearly any other fragrance. Lavender is the strongest and tends to dominate others. Bay, balsam, cedar, orange, lemon, gardenia, and carnation are also favorites, but since good oils are quite expensive, it is best to begin with just a few and add more if you find you enjoy creating potpourri.
Much of the fun of making potpourri lies in experimenting with your own original blends of colors and fragrances. There are no firm rules; there are no flowers that you cannot mix, so no matter how wildly you experiment, you won’t get a bad blend.
There is also no magic about the quantities. Mix your ingredients in whatever amount you have or like, and add 1 or 2 tablespoons of orris root per pint of flowers. Depending on the intended use for the potpourri, use 4 to 8 drops of oil to a pint. Mix well and seal in a jar with plenty of air space. Shake or stir it daily for 2 weeks to allow it to blend and ripen. After that, your potpourri is ready.
To make potpourri last longer, keep it covered for as many hours a day as it is left open. Many people close the jar or cover the dish at night, opening it each morning. Like anything else made of dried flowers, potpourri will lose both color and scent if left in the sun. If the fragrance fades, simply treat it as you would a brand new mix--add orris root and oil and let it blend in a large jar for 2 weeks.
Although you will soon be creating your own blends of potpourri from whatever materials you have on hand, the following “recipes” will get you started. Add whatever else you might have, leave out what you don’t have, and keep experimenting to come up with unique blends that are entirely yours.
Rose Potpourri
1 cup dried rose buds and petals 1 cup mixed pink and white dried flowers ¼ cup rosemary leaves ¼ cup broken stick cinnamon ¼ cup bay leaves 1 tablespoons whole cloves 3 tablespoons orris root chips 6 to 8 drops rose oil
Lavender Potpourri
1 cup lavender flowers ½ cup roses ½ cup blue and white flowers 1 tablespoon lemon peel 2 tablespoons orris root chips 4 to 6 drops lavender oil
Scotch Heather
½ cup heather flowers ½ cup pink roses 1 cup artemisia leaves and tips 1 cup pink and light rose dried flowers ½ cup bay leaves 3 tablespoons orris root chips 6 to 8 drops of rose oil