How to make potpourri: starting out
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Flowers, Reviews | 12 comments
Photo: Roses
I’ve been interested in drying flowers since I started growing them in earnest this year. This would be a way of extending the ‘sales’ season and getting 100% out of the flowers.
Recently a kind reader emailed me and suggested that I dried rose petals as confetti. This would be a great use of our old French climbing roses – these go over fairly quickly so I can only really sell them in bud. I had also been toying with they idea of making a range of really good potpourri – this could be sold all year and wouldn’t be expensive to send by mail.
So I got out my ladder and snipped loads of frothy flower heads. I used the dehydrator to dry the petals – this was a very fast operation as the petals are so delicate. Today I’m going to try drying them on the garden table using free energy from the sun.
I’ve invested in two books to give me some pointers on potpourri and dried flowers. These are books from the late 1980s and are still in print as their content is as relevant today as it was back then. On the American Amazon site they both have excellent reviews. They must have had enormous print runs as they are both available for just a few pounds second hand. I ordered copies described as ‘Used.Very good’ and they are both fine. Barbara Milo Ohrbach’s The Scented Room: Cherchez’s Book of Dried Flowers, Fragrance and Potpourri
The second book Book of Dried Flowers: A Complete Guide to Growing, Drying, and Arranging
On my hunt for orris root powder (this sets the scent and is essential in potpourri) I discovered that you can but a lot of spices such as cloves for pomanders, cinnamon and star anise at rock bottom prices. These spices are not for culinary use – hence their price.
This new project is fascinating and fun. I can’t wait to see how it develops. Meanwhile I must track down some silica gel.
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My dad grew helichrysums (strawflowers) for a few years when I was a kid – feeding my mum’s dried flower arranging hobby and a local florist shop.
They hold their shape/size very well when dried so are an excellent, pretty filler in pot pourri.
I didn’t get involved with the growing so I can’t comment on that but child-labour was used for the rest of the work — they air-dry easily & quickly, and plucking out the stems & installing wires (for arrangements) is a very OCD-pleasing activity! 😉
Yes lavender and potpourri bags are a must. I do have a lot of old linen scraps and they could be just the business with a bit of decoration. Good idea, offering the petals in different colors. I was amazed how expensive they are to buy on line until I started drying my own. It takes loads to fill a tiny cup!
Hi Magic Cochin
Yes we are groing larkspur – still very small plants but they will flower eventually! Thanks for the tip.
Hello Brightspark
The Cherchez book has recipes for flower waters – I must experiment!
Yes lavender and potpourri bags are a must. I do have a lot of old linen scraps and they could be just the business with a bit of decoration.
Hi Lizzie
I’m very keen to get the project up and running soon. But realistically the potpourri takes several weeks to cure when I have got the right ingredients together.
Hi Shaz
Yes I think that it is but large quantities of silica gel are needed to preserve flowers. It’s not cheap but can be used over and over again.
Hi Kate UK
Great to know that the books get your stamp of approval! I will check out Fred Aldous – thanks.
Hi Shereen
Good idea, offering the petals in different colours. I was amazed how expensive they are to buy on line until I started drying my own. It takes loads to fill a tiny cup!
Hi Neome
Thanks for all those tips – brilliant!
Yes we are growing delphiniums and have lots in the pipeline that will flower next year. ATM I’m selling the flowers in my mixed bunches but now will experiment drying a few.
Bulk spices are wonderful! I made some wonderful Christmas pot-pourri last year: Dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, star anise, green cardamon pods, mace husks, cloves and various powdered spices, fixed with orris root. Very satisfyingly expensive looking but surprisingly cheap to make compared to buying it. I called it my Cooks Pot-Pourri.
Do you grow delphiniums? With regard to the real petal confetti, delphinium petals have the huge advantage of being very light, so they float better than rose petals. We supplied them to all our guests and they truly enhanced our photographs. Check out this website http://www.confettidirect.co.uk/index.asp which is where we got our petals from. They were the very first thing I bought for the wedding!
Rose petal confetti is more acceptable to many churches/wedding venues than the traditional paper kind. The last few weddings I’ve been at all featured it.
You could look at selling it in a range of colours – that way the happy couple could choose confetti that ties in with their colour scheme.
Fiona you have hit upon two of the best books on drying flowers and making pot-pourri. Silica gel used to be available from pharmacists, but it’s the sort of thing they might not stock these days…try amazon, Fred Aldous does large packs.
Is the silica gel the same as the little packets in new shoes and handbags?
I have a potpourri book somewhere too that i had forgotten about thanks for reminding me, and pointing out a supplier of all things unobtainable locally
i bet your house smelled fantastic with roses drying in the dehydrator.
Shaz
I hope you get this up and running soon – I can’t seem to find a decent pot pourri anywhere – good luck.
If you have lavender, you could also make some lavender water – orris root can be used to perpetuate that, too. I bought some lovely little bottles with Grolsch-type stoppers, and they looked really pretty.
Some oddments of pretty materials could make some lavender-scented bags, or filled with your potpourri.
Are you growing Larkspur? The flowers you don’t sell fresh can be dried either as whole stalks or just the petals for confetti or potpourri. Pretty colours too – mauves and purples… very in!
Celia