Loofah Potpourri
Learn how to make your own natural potpourri using dried flowers, herbs and spices with loofah shapes as the hero ingredient.
Potpourri has been back in fashion for a while now with the old traditional style still trending along with some new elements. Gone are the dyed, fake looking botanicals of the 90’s and in with the natural, earthy style of the original potpourri traditions.
Adding loofah shapes puts a modern twist on an old style of natural petal mixes and potpourri blends. They don’t suit the simmer pots but they look fabulous in a potpourri bowl or jar created for aesthetics and scenting the home.
Why would you even use loofah in a potpourri mix?
Four reasons, it looks good and it also acts as a diffuser for the fragrance or essential oil that you're using, plus it’s a great way to use up your small loofah pieces and adds a delicate looking texture to the mix.
You can create your potpourri mixes from botanicals you’ve grown yourself or you can buy the dried flowers or petals and use the loofah as your diffuser. If you’ve grown your own loofah then chances are you also have the odd flower or two growing in your garden that can be dried and used to create a beautiful mix. I even find interesting shaped leaves, cones and pods on my nature walks that get added to my personal winter and fall blends.
What exactly is potpourri?
Potpourri can be a mixture of anything botanical that you want it to be. It can be flower petals like rose, geranium, peony, hydrangea or sunflower petals or flower heads like lavender, strawflower, chrysanthemums, cornflowers, statice, ammobium, daisies or bunny tails or it could be seed pods like nigella, poppy, honesty and iris. There are many more you can use - these are just what I specifically grow for my potpourri mixes. Then there is also the winter, spicy or earthy blends. You don’t even need a variety of flowers or petals, a bowl of rose petals with loofah shapes also look great.
When you start having a look around at what you already have available, you’ll be surprized at what you can come up with.
Flower Petals: Rose petals, sunflower petals, hydrangea, geranium, peony petals.
Flower Heads: Lavender heads, strawflowers, cornflowers, bunny tails, statice, chrysanthemums, billy buttons, ammobiums, gomphrenas and daisies.
Herbs and Leaves: Rose leaves, dried mints, lemon balm, lemon verbena, eucalyptus, bay leaves.
Seed Pods and Spices: Cinnamon, star anise, nigella pods, poppy pods, honesty (lunaria) , iris seed pods, sweet gum spiky pods, citrus peels and slices.
Forest and Nature: Red fall leaves, dried mosses, mini cones.
Idea - You could change out the potpourri mix to suit each season by storing the off-season blends in a sealed container or bag to refresh and reuse for next year. Store out of sunlight and away from heat. Rose petals tend to brown the most easily and often need replacing.
How and why use loofah in your potpourri mix.
If you sprayed a fragrance oil directly onto a rose bud it would brown up in no time but if you spray fragrance oil on a loofah cutout and add that to your potpourri mix, you’ll ensure that your botanicals stay fresher looking for longer.
How long does potpourri last?
It depends which botancials you are using, what type of scent, what method you’re using to diffuse that scent within the mix and the overall room conditions. A potpourri mix that is in direct sunlight with essential oil sprayed directly onto the flowers and petals will not last as long as a mix that is placed in the shade, uses a fragrance oil and has a fixative like orris root or loofah shapes as the fragrance diffuser.
How to create and use loofah shapes.
Shape ideas: hearts, circles, stars, leaf shape or squiggly lines
You can either create a template with cardboard, use a punch or use a manual die cutter to create the shapes.
When using a template: Cut and flatten out a dry piece of loofah, they more you can flatten it out the easier it is to cut. Cut around the template and place pieces in a plastic bag or bowl for adding the fragrance.
When using a punch: You will need to select the thinnest loofah you can and flatten it as much as you can or it doesn’t fit though the thin space of the punch. It won’t work for the thicker pieces.
When using a manual die cutter: I’ve found this to be the easiest method as it flattens the loofah and cuts through a decent thickness at the same time.
Electronic or digital die cutter: I have not tried using any of these. If trying, for the best test outcome my suggestion would be to choose the thinnest piece of loofah and flatten it out first.
Add all pieces to a plastic bag or container with a lid for adding the fragrance. Spray a generous amount or add a few drops and shake the bag. Place the loofah shapes in your botanicals mix. Over time as the aroma fades, it’s easy just to take out the loofah shapes, add more scent and pop back into the mix.
Fragrance options:
You can use fragrance oils, essential oils or even let the natural aroma of the flowers come through (lavender is a good choice to add into the mix). Essential oils do tend to fade out quicker than a fragrance oil as well as the totally natural option but it really depends on your preference.
If you were wanting to only use natural botanical aromas then including lavender heads is a good choice as I have found them to be one of the strongest smelling of all the botanicals. Lemon verbena, chamomile flower heads, lemon balm or any of the mints come in second and scented rose petals in third.
If you wanted to add a fixative for extra longevity you can use an orris root powder or chips. Follow the steps above with the loofah shapes but once you’ve scented the loofah add 1 teaspoon of orris root powder or chips to the bag or container along with all of the botanicals and gently shake through.
The key here is to not have too much orris root powder as it will fade the vibrant colours of the botanicals with a dusty coating – you only want a sprinkle of powder.
Add to a beautiful white bowl to let the colors pop or a wooden bowl for an earthy vibe. For gifting you can package in a glass jar with a wide top (like a candle jar) or for selling I use a plant-based clear bag which is the most cost effective but still stunning as it allows the vibrant colors and interesting loofah shapes to show through.