Don't you love walking into someone's home or office and
sniffing the fresh scent of dried potpourri? Its fragrance
heralds the season or a special holiday to create a festive
atmosphere of joyful celebrations or peaceful calm. Dried
flowers, herbs, and plants of all kinds can create meaningful a
wide assortment of accents, decorations, and gifts. All you need
are the supplies and a little bit of know-how.
Start by browsing your local craft, novelty, or fabric store.
You can find many types of dried leaves and blossoms that can be
used for their beauteous appearance or appealing scent. Check
out the many kinds that are available for various crafts and
projects. Then, if you are not quite sure how to use them,
invest in a dried flower book that shows you how to assemble
pieces that utilize these remnants of seasons past. You might
even want to take a class on working with dried plants and
floral arrangements, which will add to your repertoire of
information and give you plenty of ideas to work with.
If you don't want to buy the kind of dried flowers that are
ready for use, you can get the equipment to make your own dried
floral products. There are kits on the market that show you how
to collect and dry blossoms, leaves, roots, and herbs to
preserve them indefinitely. Instead of tucking them into a book
and perhaps forgetting about them or misplacing the book, you
can use the correct utensils to do the job right and help
flowers last longer.
The next step might be to grow your own plants that are raised
for this special purpose. Some plants, like roses and lilies,
are easier to preserve than others or last longer, so these are
the ones you will want to cultivate. Grow an indoor mini-garden
or prepare an outdoor flowerbed, and have fun watching your
plants bloom before harvesting their beauty and fragrance for
long lasting craft projects. Learn how to keep insects away
without using pesticide, and discourage blight naturally without
the use of herbicides, which will keep your plants--and
you--healthier, especially when the blossoms are dried and used
in a living area.
Some of the ways you can use dried floral products include
making the ever-popular potpourri. After drying petals, stems,
or leaves, crush them and store in small bags for future use.
These can become sachets for drawers, room fresheners when
heated in water, or attractive decorations when placed in glass
bowls or dishes that adorn tabletops or other attractive
settings in your home or place of business. Make sure that you
know which plants to grow, how to blend them for the right
scent, and the proper way to store and use them. Then make good
use of these attractive items, or give them away as presents to
others.
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