There are probably many ways to make Potpourri, but thought I would share with you how I make mine.
The first thing you need are dried flowers, petals and even the leaves,stems (lavender) are suitable.I like to do my dries during our winter as we hardly get a drop of rain and air is very drying.
If you are going to dry your flowers yourself, the best time to pick them is in the morning when the flowers are dry. If you don't have flowers in your garden but would like to dry your own, buy a bunch or two from the flower market. As soon as you get them home, tie into a bunch with some raffia or string and hang upside down in a cool, dry, airy spot. If you have flowers without stems, break the petals up,or leave buds whole (I like to add rose buds), place on a sieve of some sort, preferably a large flat one, spread your petals out and leave to dry in a suitable spot. Toss them around occasionally to make sure the petals dry out all over.
The most suitable flowers for potpourri are roses and lavender, but you can experiment with all types of flowers. Just a tip here is keep the different flowers apart while drying. Once you can see which ones will dry suitable for potpourri, then you can mix them up. I like to keep my different flowers apart until I make my potpourri, that way I can mix the colours together for whatever potpourri I am making.
Here is a picture of my autumn potpourri I made last year, where I used petals and berries of autumn shades.
Your flowers will be ready to make into potpourri when the petals are crisp to the touch.
Part 2- mixing the potpourri oils to follow soon.
