How to Create Your Own Potpourri
The holidays can be such a treat for all of the senses. There are so much delicious food, beautiful music, and so many interesting things to see.
Fragrance is also a big part of all of these. I love the smell of cinnamon hot apple cider, but I also love those aromas that are crisp and clean like citrus and fresh cut greenery. How about a way to make the most of these fragrances in the form of a gift that will make the homes smell fresh after the holidays? It’s Potpourri and many of the ingredients can be gathered directly from the garden.
There is no exact science to creating this but I do try to combine things that look and smell good together. I start by mixing foliage together in this large bowl. I'm using eucalyptus leaves because they hold up for a long time. And this gingko leaves are liked because of their shape and color.
For little textural contrast, I’m adding some of this cedar, and of course, fruits and berries are always visually interesting, so I'm using some of these eucalyptus berries as well as some of these dried flower heads. I dried these lemon slices into the hydrator but you can do the same in a low temperature of it. Now, to carry on this citrus thing, I also used some of these lemon balm leaves.
Now, we just blend al of these together. What a beautiful combination of color and fragrance. To give your own potpourri that extra little blues, you can use these essential oils. These are concentrated fragrances from flowers, herbs, and spices. Since I follow the lemon theme, with the aroma and color of this blend, I'm going to further enhance it with the essential oil of lemon grass.
This is sort of like baking chocolate chip cookies. If you want to increase the flavor, add more of the essential ingredient chocolate chips. Only with this, just add more oil. Since I want this to be particularly lemony, I'm putting about four drops per double handful of the potpourri and I'm folding it in. Make sure that it’s distributed evenly. Now, these seed heads are good because they absorb the oil and hold it.
Now, for the presentation, since most of these came from the garden more or less, I like to carry out the thing by packaging it in a simple clay pot. I just fill it with potpourri and leave a bottle of the oil on top to refresh it later. For wrapping, I just pull some of these clear wrap up around it, tied it with raffia, and accent it with some greenery. We just want to make sure that potpourri is completely dry so it doesn’t cloud the plastic. What a perfect gift from the garden. I'm Allen Smith.
For more on this topic and other information, just check out my website pallensmith.com and make sure you watch me on the NBC’s “The Today Show” on December 6th and 8th, where I'm going to show some Holiday Tips.
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