Make Your Own Potpourri
There are lots of recipes in herb books that give exact ingredients and measurements for making a specific potpourri. This is a general guide to help you make a simple potpourri with ingredients you have on hand. Many leafy herbs and flowers can easily be grown in your garden. You are probably growing many of them now. Kitchen ingredients in the form of spices are also readily available. Add a fixative and an oil and you have a potpourri you can enjoy and give as a gift without a lot of expense. It will also be a reminder of your garden during the long months of winter.
The following list is by no means complete but it will give you an excellent start for dried potpourri materials. You will probably find many of them in your garden. Also check with friends that have gardens - many are happy to share.
Botanicals for Potpourri
Flowers - anemones, anise hyssop, angelica, astilbe, baby's breath, bachelor's button, basils, broom flowers, butterfly bush, butterfly weed, Calendula, candytuft, catmint, chamomile, Chinese lantern fruits, chive blossoms, chrysanthemums, cinquefoils, costmary, cockscomb/celosia, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, cornflowers, cosmos, curry plant, daffodils, daylily, Dianthus/garden pinks/carnations, elecampane, fennel flowers, feverfew, fleabane, foamflower tops, forget-me-nots, freesia, fuchsia, gardenia petals, gay feather/Liatris, germander, globe amaranth, globe thistle, goat's beard, goldenrod, gooseneck, heather, heliotrope, hibiscus, hollyhock, honeysuckle, hops, hyacinth, hydrangea, hyssop, irises, ironweed, jasmine, Joe-Pye weed, jonquils, Korean mint, lace flower, lady's bedstraw, lady's mantle, lamb's ears, larkspur/Delphinium, lavenders, lilac, lily of the valley, love-in-a-mist, mallows, marguerite daisy, marigolds, marjoram, meadow rue, meadowsweet, mexican/tarragon marigold, mints, mock orange, monardas, money plant/honesty, mountain mint/pycnanthemum, myrtle/Greek, narcissus, nasturtium, nicotiana, night scented stock, oreganos, pearly everlasting, peppers, poppy, potenilla, primrose, Queen Ann's Lace, roses, rosemary, rue, safflower, Russian sage, sages and salvias, shasta daisy, St. John's wort, santolina, sea pinks, Autumn Joy Sedum, soapwort, statice, stokes's aster, strawflowers, sunflower petals, sweet cicely, sweet peas, tansy, thymes, valerian, verbena/bedding type, veronica, violets, wallflower, winged everlasting, wood betony, yarrow, zinnia
Leaves - anise hyssop, angelica, artemisias, Australian mint bush, Australian rosemary, Balm of Gilead, basils, bay, boxwood, calamint, candytuft, catmint, catnip/lemon, chamomile, costmary, citronella grass, chrysanthemums, Costa Rican mint bush, curry plant, elecampane, eucalyptus, fennel, germander, germander wood sage, globe amaranth, heather, horehound, hyssop, Joe-Pye weed, Korean mint, lady's mantle, lamb's ears, lavenders, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon verbena, lime balm, marigold/Mexican or tarragon, marjoram, meadowsweet, mints, monardas, mountain mint/Pycnanthemum, myrtle/Greek, oreganos, ostrich fern, patchouli, pearly everlasting, perilla/purple, pittosporum, rose leaves, rosemary, rue, Russian sage, sages and salvias, santolina, scented geraniums, southernwood, stone mint, sweet cicely, sweet olive, tansy, thymes, uva ursi, vanilla grass, woodruff, yarrow
Spices and Peels - allspice, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, star anise, vanilla bean, grapefruit peel, lemon peel, lime peel, orange peel, tangerine peel
Fixatives - calamus, gum benzoin, orris, vetiver. Herbs and spices with fixative properties - frankincense, myrrh, patchouli, oakmoss, sandalwood, Tonka beans, deer's tongue leaves
Fixative Choices
When using a fixative for making potpourri, I always use a cut form rather than a powder. In my opinion, the powder coats the flowers, gives them a dirty look and feel, and dulls the color. I also think that the oils are released more slowly from the cut pieces and the potpourri remains fragrant for a longer period of time.
Fixatives in the powdered form work best for spice rolling mix, incense, or in potpourri blends that will be ground for craft projects.
Another thought to keep in mind when choosing your fixative is that a few people are allergic to orris root, the most commonly used potpourri fixative. When giving your potpourri as gifts, you may wish to make some of the blends using a different fixative if you know of someone who suffers from allergy problems.
I've also listed a few herbs and spices with fixative properties. They are not used as fixatives by themselves but you can usually cut back on fixative amounts if you are including them in your blend.
Making the Potpourri
Use the following approximate proportions for making your potpourri - 4 cups of flowers, 1-2 cups of leaves, 2-3 Tablespoons spices and peels, 2-3 Tablespoons fixative, 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons oil. (One teaspoon oil = 4 ml = 80 drops.) The proportions are approximate due to the fact that many leaves and flowers have quite a bit of fragrance of their own. In some blends you will find you need more fixative and oil; some potpourri blends will need less.
Decide which of your dried ingredients you'd like to use. You may wish to use bright "hot" colors such as reds, yellows and oranges for a lemon blend, red & white potpourri or citrus potpourri or use soothing pastels such as white & cream, pink and mauve or blue and mauve to add a calming touch. Make a theme potpourri such as spring flowers, summer sunshine, fall harvest, winter thyme, country garden, mint and marigold, Victorian potpourri, Elizabethan potpourri, wedding potpourri, oriental blend or rose bowl blend. A fragrant theme is also popular - heather and honeysuckle, vanilla spice, sweet herbs, sweet flowers or sweet rose.
Assemble your dried ingredients, oils, droppers, scissors for snipping if needed, a piece of paper, pencil, 1 quart and 1 cup measure, 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon measures. Always write down exact proportions or measurements as you put your potpourri together. Also make a note of the form you've used - whole, crushed, coarsely cut or finely crushed. This is very important, especially if you make a potpourri that becomes a favorite. I didn't do this important step when I made my first blends and immediately regretted it when I was unable to duplicate a beautiful Spicy Rose blend that I'd come to love.
You can use a large bowl or plastic bag to combine your ingredients. I make large batches and use a plastic garbage bag. When making a new potpourri, I always start with a small amount of each of my ingredients, about 1 ounce to 1 cup. After I put them together, I decide what I might need to add - additional leaves for added greenery or maybe a particular color of flower to brighten up the blend or tone it down. There is no such thing as a ruined potpourri. By adding additional materials, you can alter the look or fragrance considerably and save the potpourri if you are unhappy with the result.
After I have my leaves and flowers in the proper mix, I then blend in my spices and peels if I'm using them. By writing down exact proportions, you can now increase the volume of your blend without changing the look you've achieved. You may choose to make up a large batch of potpourri base and divide it into several small batches. Then you can add a few different flowers and oils to each batch and have several different finished potpourris.
When I'm satisfied with the look of my potpourri, I make a small depression in the top center of the potpourri and add my fixative. I put my oil or oils on the fixative with a dropper, adding the oil slowly, a little at a time. Most of the concentrated oil will be absorbed by the fixative. The oil which is not absorbed will trickle down and soak into the potpourri leaves and flowers around and below the fixative. I feel this works fine and does not waste the oil by coating a separate container as some potpourri makers suggest. Gently stir or shake potpourri to thoroughly blend all ingredients together. Seal and store potpourri in glass jars (if possible) or plastic bags in a dry, cool, dark place. Allow potpourri to sit, shaking or stirring gently at least 2 or 3 times per week as it continues to blend and mature. After about 3 weeks, check potpourri for fragrance and add more oil if necessary. It is considered "ready" about 4 weeks after you've added the last ingredients. It can then be packaged as gifts or used for craft projects.
Faded or Old Potpourri
When your potpourri loses it fragrance, it can be revived by adding a few drops of concentrated oil - either fragrance oil or essential oil. You can add the same oil that was used to make the potpourri or add a different one for a new fragrance. You may also choose to add a handful of freshly dried flowers to brighten a faded potpourri or a new ingredient to match the oil if you change the fragrance. For instance to a Rose Potpourri, add cinnamon sticks with cinnamon oil to make a Cinnamon Rose Potpourri.
Incense Recipes
Here's a list of recipes to get you started, have fun experimenting and enjoying new mixtures.
1 part sandalwood
1/2 part cassia
1/2 part clove
2 parts sandalwood
1 part benzoin
1 part star anise
1 part cassia
1/2 part rose mallow seeds
2 parts frankincense
1 part sandalwood
1 part aloeswood
1 part clove
1 part cinnamon
2 part sandalwood
1 part galangal
1 part myrrh
1/2 part cinnamon
1/2 part borneol
3 parts gold copal
1 part dark copal
1 part myrrh
1 part balsam of tolu
1/2 part vanilla
4 parts juniper tips
2 parts white sage
2 parts sweet grass
2 parts sandalwood
1 part mastic
1 part myrrh
1 part cinnamon bark
1 part spikenard
handful of dried rose petals
1 part storax
1 part frankincense
1 part cassia
1 part sandalwood
2 parts sandalwood
1 part frankincense
1 part mastic
1 part lemongrass
2 parts frankincense
1 part myrrh
1 part cedar
1/4 part pinion pine
2 parts frankincense
1 part myrrh
1 part mastic
1/2 part coriander
2 parts cedar
1 part vetiver
1 part lavender flowers
1/2 part benzoin
handful of dried rose petals