Charlotte, North Carolina USA

Say the word potpourri and it will conjure a different image to each person you encounter. How sad that the fragrance memory of potpourri held by many people is of cheap overkill with indiscriminate oils. More often than not, these mixtures knock you over the head while confronting the eye with a gaudy mixture of oversized commercial material.

The history of potpourri actually is quite noble. Traditionally, herbs were an important part of daily life, masking the effect of poor hygienic practices, both personal and public. In England, the official royal position of Herb Strewer and Potpourri Maker began during the Elizabethan period in the 16th century and ended fairly recently with the reign of Elizabeth II.

At our July 8th, 2003 meeting, we will explore real potpourri that will titillate your senses: the interplay of herbal textures and subtle fragrance, the colors and tones of the mixture, reinforcing the essence of the mix. Before you mix your potpourri, however, there is a lot of work to do!

Traditionally, potpourri uses rose petals as a base and a sweet jar uses lavender flowers as its base. Fortunately, these materials as well as most of the other materials are readily available in our gardens; we only need to harvest and prepare them properly.

Consider this basic recipe as you gather and prepare your materials:

Rose petals are structured with tiny air pockets that absorb oil and hold scent. Some colors, and even some varieties, hold color better than others. White Roses generally are not very pleasing to the eye when dried; yellow Roses dry well; pink shades are the best, and red Roses are satisfactory as long as they don’t dry towards a blackish color.

Old Roses are the most fragrant, in particular 'Cardinal Richelieu', 'Louis Leveque' and 'Duchesse de Brabant'. The Damask and Rugosa Roses are especially good for fragrance. Fairy rosebuds dry well. Pick Roses just before they are fully opened on a fair dry day in mid-morning or gather small tight rosebuds for drying. As with all plant material intended for drying, you don’t want any moisture to complicate the drying process.

Dry each color separately, so you can use them to enhance the visual impression of the finished potpourri. Gently pull the petals from the flower and place them in a single layer in a dry, dark place with good air circulation. Air-conditioning is good for herb drying; open windows on humid days are not. You can also place the petals in a closed brown paper bag in the trunk of your car or flash-dry them in a hot attic. If using either of these latter two methods, check the petals frequently, removing them when they are dry as continuous intense heat will deteriorate the quality.

The petals and all dried material should feel like corn flakes when the drying process is complete. You can freeze them in plastic Zip-lock bags as your supply grows or store them in sealed glass or ceramic containers. (Keep an eye open for glass gallon jars.) You will need 4 cups dried Rose petals as part of the base for one batch of potpourri.

Bulk materials include many of the herbs we all grow in our gardens. Use only well-formed, clean, insect-free leaves and flowers. Inspect every leaf carefully—an entire batch of potpourri can be ruined if you allow a critter in the mix. After the material is completely dry, store it in tightly sealed Zip-lock bags, glass or ceramic containers, which will keep dust at a minimum.

If you are drying small amounts at a time, woven paper plate liners provide effective porous surfaces that you can set on top of your refrigerator. If you have lots of space, a wooden frame about 36x36 inches supporting a piece of hardware cloth (1/2” mesh screening) comes in handy for many drying projects. Porcelain or ceramic plates work well for small leaves.

You can gather and dry any of the following, using the same general guidelines as drying Rose petals:

Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis)
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) – Dry daisy-like flower heads only
Lavender (Lavandula sp.) – Harvest when the heads are showing good color but before the flowers have opened and dry them in bunches hanging upside down. Use rubber bands to secure bunches so the elastic stays tight as the stems of the drying branches shrink.
Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla) – Always prune just above a leaf node. Three new branches will shoot out from where you have snipped, so begin pruning low on the plant in the beginning of the season to encourage healthy lower growth. Pinch off well-formed leaves from the branches you have cut and spread them to dry. They curl when they dry for a very attractive appearance in potpourri.
Mint (Mentha sp.) – Pinch off leaves, then spread them out to dry.
Marjoram and Oregano (Oreganum sp.) – Allow these herbs to bloom then harvest the flower heads and hang them to dry. Cut and hang loose bunches of foliage, securing with rubber bands.
Mountain Mint (Pycanthemum sp.)– Dry stems by hanging upside down or pinch off individual leaves to spread out and dry. Mountain mint has an exceptional fragrance that lasts for years.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus sp.) – Try this two ways and see which works best for you: cut small branches, bind with rubber bands into loose bunches and hang them upside down, or pinch off the individual leaves and dry them.
Sage (Salvia officinalis) – Hang in loose bunches or spread individual leaves to dry.
Santolina - This is useful in moth-repellent blends; otherwise, it has rather a dominant camphor odor. Be careful harvesting too much as Santolina is a small shrub that doesn’t like heavy pruning in the summer. The yellow button flowers are a good visual accent. Cut the flower stems and hang to dry.
Scented Geranium (Pelargonium sp.) – Snip off individual leaves and lay them flat to dry. They contort as they dry, for interesting shapes in the mixture. Dry each kind separately (e.g. Rose, Lemon, etc.).
Southernwood (Artemisia sp.) – This is another herb for moth-repellent blends. Pinch off individual leaves and lay flat to dry.
Sweet Woodruff (Asperula odorata) – The whorls of the foliage are particularly beautiful and should be dried to preserve that shape. After cutting a stem, snip the stem close above and below each whorl and lay them out to dry. Sweet Woodruff contains coumarin, which smells like vanilla hay and develops as it dries.
Thyme (Thymus sp.) – Hang in loose bunches, then strip off dried leaves.
Various blossoms – Use your imagination here, but beware of the dried odor. Some ornamental Salvias have a terrible odor when dried. Good choices include Calendula petals, Larkspur, Globe Amaranth (should be harvested when the blossoms are globe-shaped, not elongated), Heliopsis ‘Summer Sun’ petals, Cock’s Comb (Celosia sp.), Feverfew blossoms (dried whole like Chamomile), etc. Again, keep each flower variety separate.

In addition to 4 cups of Rose petals, you will need 2 cups of mixed bulk material for one recipe of potpourri. In July we will learn the universal recipe for a good potpourri and cover the other elements of potpourri—fixatives, spices and oils. Generally, these are products you can purchase at Talley’s, The Home Economist or through mail order resources.

I am exploring the possibility of having some bulk fixatives and spices at the July meeting—more on that later. One exception you might want to begin saving would be orange and lemon peel. Just as with any cooking recipe, you will want strips of colored peel only (no white). For this purpose, nice wide strips are desirable, as they will show up better in the potpourri. Dry the strips of peel on a porcelain or ceramic plate.

Other equipment required to make potpourri include a large non-metal bowl, a wooden spoon, small glass jars with lids to mix the oils and fixatives, eye droppers for oils (a different one for each oil) and large glass or ceramic containers with lids. These are good items to search for as you visit flea markets and garage sales this summer. If you find large ceramic crocks, make sure they have never been used to make pickles. The odor from the brine will linger long after the pickles are gone and will permeate your potpourri.

Although the July 8, 2003 meeting will be a demonstration rather than a workshop, you will be ready to go home and make your own potpourri with the materials you have prepared throughout the summer. Imagine the pleasure of savoring your own potpourri blend in the dead of winter as you remember harvesting the herbs on a sunny day in June! CT