Tag: flowers

  • How to Make Aromatic Potpourri

    How to Make Aromatic Potpourri

    If you are a flower gardener or simply love the smell of fragrant potpourri, you should definitely learn to make your own. You can harvest and process your own flower petals or buy your own and make several sachets to give to friends and family. There are few more thoughtful, easy homemade gifts than an aromatic sachet of potpourri!

    The most common bases for potpourri are rose petals and sweet geranium leaves. If you grow roses, this is a wonderful way to use the petals once the flowers begin to die. You can add to these whatever you like, and we’ve got some great ideas for you.

    There are two main types of potpourri: dry and moist. Dry potpourri is very easy, as long as you are sure you have very dry ingredients. You simply dry out whatever fragrant flowers and herbs you’d like to use in a dehydrator or oven, and pack into sachets. Moist potpourri can be a little trickier.

    Moist potpourri can be a little trickier. You need to have the right balance between moisture and dryness, so it might take a little trial and error. What you want is to get your ingredients to a sort of leathery consistency, so that they are not too wet to store but not so dry that they lose fragrance. Once you have achieved this consistency, however, if you pack them into jars with some salt to absorb any excess moisture, they are delightfully aromatic. You might wonder why they’re worth the effort, well, while dry potpourri is certainly easier, moist potpourri is far more fragrant.

    Dry potpourri is ideal for putting in drawers or storage boxes to keep things smelling good when they are put away, or tossing in bedding. You can also leave it sitting in a bowl in your living room or bedroom for a pleasant aroma. Wet potpourri, however, is best suited for this latter purpose.

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    How to Make Potpourri

    Since moist potpourri can be a bit tricky, we will focus on how to make dry potpourri to get you started.

    First, you will want to gather together your ingredients and make sure they have properly dried. Depending on what you are using, this might be very easy, or it might take a bit more patience. Many flowers and herbs can simply be hung upside down for a few days, left to dry in a paper bag, of spread out on some cloth or butcher paper in a cool, dry place for a few days. Or, if you have a dehydrator, this can speed things up, just be careful not to dry them so much that they become impossible to handle.

    Factors such as the thickness and moisture content of your ingredients, your given environment, and the method you choose to dry your ingredients with, will all have an impact on just how effectively they dry. So use your best judgment.

    Once you have your ingredients properly dried and gathered together, place them all in a large bowl or on a large tray. Mix together. Then, distribute into bags and tie. A small scoop helps a lot here, but you can just use your hands as well.

    For bags, you can buy some specially made, or simply sew very simple ones out of muslin and secure with a pretty ribbon. You can get creative though, lace is really nice-looking and linen is a classic.

    You can also reserve some to keep in bowls around the house. This is a lovely way to add scent and a touch of vintage decor to your home. Adding some potpourri to an antique crystal bowl is particularly chic, and an incredibly easy way to dress up your home decor. You can, of course, use any bowl, even a small mason jar with a ribbon tied around it would be very farmhouse chic and incredibly cheap and easy to do.

    Speaking of mason jars, if you don’t feel like fussing with bags or bowls, simply filling some small mason jars with potpourri and covering with a piece of fabric and a ribbon, or even a mason jar ring, is a very quick and easy way to store and use your potpourri. With a small enough jar, you can keep this in a dresser drawer to keep your clothes smelling fresh, or place around your home for fragrance and style. This is also a great way to store damp potpourri if you are bold enough to try your hand at making it.

    Here are some great ideas for ingredients to use for both wet and dry potpourri:

    • rose petals
    • sweet geranium
    • cloves
    • rosemary
    • lemon peels 
    • bay leaf
    • thyme
    • lavender
    • verbena
    • rosemary
    • violet
    • mint
    • cinnamon cloves
    • orange peels
    • allspice 

    Potpourri makes a wonderful gift for friends and family, or simply a great natural way to improve the fragrance in your home. If you have lots of fragrant flowers and herbs around your homestead, see what you can come up with! You’ll be happy you did.

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  • Defensive Gardening   

    Defensive Gardening  

     

    Most gardeners have some sort of a pest problem from time to time.  It can be difficult to keep unwanted guests out of your garden.  So most people don’t think about gardening as a way to keep would-be-burglars out of their home.  With proper plant selection and placement, you can greatly increase the security of your home while increasing the beauty of your yard.  Here are a few examples of plants that can be used effectively as a means of defense.

     

    Firethorn

    As the name suggests, you don’t want to get stuck by this plant which is covered in thorns.  But while firethorn is one plant you don’t want to touch, or attempt to climb over or through, this evergreen shrub can looks good all year when kept tidy and produces flowers that vary in size and color depending on the variety.  Firethorn would make a great supplement to existing walls, or even as a stand-alone border.

    Bougainvillea

    For those that live in warmer zones, this plant thrives on heat and is drought tolerant.  Bougainvillea can climb, or be hedged into a shrub that can grow as high as you let it, up to 40 feet.  It has long, painful thorns all over the plant that only get more effective as the thorns age and contain a skin toxin that produces a rash.  Bougainvillea produces a beautiful and unique flower that has paper like petals, they come in nearly any color imaginable, from near white pink to burgundy.  Bougainvillea can be used as a border or as a climber on fences or awnings.

    Roses

    Roses are a great plant to put under a window to prevent break-ins, they are covered in fragrant flowers in the summer when you are more likely to have your windows open, and thorns all year long.  But not all roses have the same level of protection in their thorns.  The Voodoo rose is known for being particularly menacing.

     

    Remember that while these plants can be used as an effective deterrent, they should not be allowed to grow more than 4 feet high near the home, especially near the front door where they could provide concealment for an intruder that is waiting of you.  These plants aren’t concerned with who they injure either, make sure that you wear long sleeves, long pants, and leather gloves while working with them, and if you are using a power hedger wear a face shield.  I got a piece of Bougainvillea in my nose before because I thought eye protection was enough, it was not pleasant.

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  • What to Plant to Attract Bees

    What to Plant to Attract Bees

    Bees are essential for our survival, and they’re dying in record numbers. We need them to pollinate our plants, so as they are dying in record numbers worldwide, it is devastating to think of the effects this might have on life on earth.

    There’s only so much a single homesteader can do, but as bees are just as vital to our small operations as they are to global food production, we can definitely still try to do our part to attract, nourish and sustain bees on our humble homesteads.

    Of course, beekeeping is a great way to do this, and if you can, it will definitely benefit you as well as the global production of bees. Not only will you have lots of happy pollinators buzzing around your garden, you’ll also get honey and honeycomb!

    But not everyone is ready to take that leap into beekeeping, you’re either homesteading in a city and don’t have the capacity to keep bees, or you’ve decided for one reason or another that keeping hives is just not the right option for your homestead, which is totally understandable. So what can you do to help the bees?

    Plant for them! There are a number of fragrant herbs and flowers that bees love, and most of them are pretty easy to grow!

    Here’s what to plant for the bees:

    • lavender
    • sunflower
    • catnip
    • poppy
    • borage
    • sage
    • cilantro
    • thyme
    • fennel
    • geranium
    • heliotrope
    • zinnia
    • crocus
    • buttercup
    • aster
    • anemone
    • calendula

    These lovely herbs and flowers are favorites of bees, and there sure to be constant visitors to your garden if you plant them!

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