Perennials for Potpourri
Early this morning as I was out power-walking, I rounded a corner and was enveloped in the heady, spicy aroma of jasmine. The mass of white flowers almost obscured the green vines beneath and the perfume was absolutely heavenly! This unexpected encounter got me thinking about a hobby I took up a number of years ago...making potpourri. Since we gardeners can never get enough of the beauty and fragrance of our wonderful flowers, why not preserve them for on-going enjoyment? It’s easy to do and gives real focus to what to plant in your garden.
Potpourri, literally rotten pot in French, can be traced back centuries where its fragrance was used to mask the unpleasant odors caused by rotting food and poor sanitation. It also had medicinal uses in medieval infirmaries and the Egyptians buried potpourri with their dead. In 16th century England, families created their own personal recipe and used it to scent everything from bed linens to soap and writing inks. Legend has it that Louis XIV loved the spicy scent of nutmeg, jasmine, orange flowers and cloves.
The ingredients of potpourri can be as simple or as complex as you want. The essential components of any potpourri, however, are plant materials (both naturally fragrant and simply decorative), fixatives (natural materials that absorb and hold a fragrance they are exposed to) and fragrant or essential oils. You can grow most of the plant materials for your potpourri unless you want to add something very exotic that won’t grow in your climate. However, not all plants that you grow will work well in potpourri. Here are some of the best candidates.
Lavender may well be the granddaddy of potpourri ingredients. Its lovely aroma, interesting flowers and attractive leaves make it perfect on all counts. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is the most fragrant, but other species like Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) offer good scent and showy bracts (flowers). Roses are another mainstay of potpourri; individual petals can add to the bulk of the mixture, buds provide a delicate, more decorative accent and hips give an exotic touch.
Hydrangeas are a great choice for color and texture. They dry easily and usually deepen in color during that process. They shouldn’t be picked until the tiny flowers at the center of the bract have shriveled.
Other excellent picks for potpourri include: black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta), statice or sea lavender (Limonium spp.), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), globe thistle (Echinops), chrysanthemum, and lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina). The only real criterion for using a plant in potpourri is that it must dry well and retain its color and form or morph to another, equally attractive one. Try drying any of the plants or flowers in your garden and let the results be your judge.
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