DIY Late Summer Potpourri

How to make your own potpourri for late summer early fall

Full disclosure, this was my first attempt at making potpourri and the traditional way didn’t work out for me.

From what I’ve always understood, you start by drying out you flowers or herbs before making your potpourri, right? So I went and cut some pretty flowers from my yard, bundled them together and hung them upside down in my laudry room to dry. I’ve heard that you want to hang flowers in a dark room to dry out for best results, which is why I chose my laudry room. It’s a room without windows. But once they dried, they looked brown and dead.

dried flowers

Then I felt sorta bad that I locked these pretty flowers in a dark room and never even enjoyed them!

I didn’t want to use these brown, crumbling flowers for my potpourri so I decided to use fresh flowers instead. It may not be traditional, but at least I can enjoy them before they wither and die. So I went and picked a few more flowers from my yard. I used a cutting from my Hummingbird Vine, one Dahlia and one White Cosmo. I pulled the petals and buds from each of these and placed them into a small round wooden dish.

I also threw in several small leaves from the hummingbird vine. Once they were arranged, I wanted to add a bit more of an aroma to it, as these aren’t that fragrant.

To incorporate the aroma, I used wooden beads. I recently bought a box of beads for crafts (these are similar), so I grabbed some of those. I placed them on a paper towel and poured a few drops of wild orange essential oil over each of them, aiming to get some down through the center hole. (You can read more on why I prefer this brand of essential oils here).

DIY Scented Beads with essential oils

I let them sit for a bit on the towel, then further dried them with a clean towel. I didn’t want them to be so soaked that they would stain the wooden dish.

The wild orange scent goes so perfectly with the colorful mix of flowers here. It’s as if sight and smell met perfectly.

how to make potpourri with fresh flowers

 

They ended up on my bathroom sink, for a nice little pop of late summer color in here.

homemade bathroom air freshener

 

Have you ever dried flowers before? I’d love to hear some feedback from others who have tried it with success. 🙂

beautiful homemade potpourri DIY

 

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How to make your own potpourri - this blend is perfect for late summer and early fall color and scent!

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2 Comments

  1. hi roxanne! Sharing this on the weekend edit on saturday. this brought back memories before we had blogs! laura in co

  2. Aj dougherty says:

    Beautiful liyyle bOwl of potpourri! Think i’ll Make some tomorrow. Thanks for the Inspiration

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