Forget air fresheners in a can! Go for natural, environmentally friendly and inexpensive home made fragrances instead. Simply hang up bunches of aromatic flowers and herbs chosen for their scent and their effects on mood. Try your hand at combining dried herbs in potpourri by following recipes you can find on the internet, or make up your own.

Basic ingredients in making potpourri:

• Aromatic plant such as; rose petals, carnation, hibiscus, sunflowers, marigold flowers and sampaguita, scented geraniums, lavender, mints. Herbs like chamomile, lavender, oregano, basil, thyme, sage and rosemary. Eucalyptus leaves are a nice addition to any potpourri. Remember not to limit yourself to this list, use your imagination and combine different ingredients. Just be sure that the look and smell of the potpourri go together.
• Essential oils and fixative (which combines with the essential oils to preserve their fragrance.)The best known fixative is orris root, this is available wherever you purchase your essential oils. It smells faintly of violets when fresh. It's sold in powder or chunk form. Chunks tend to be effective longer and can be used in sachets or pillows.

Important things to remember when making Potpourri:

• You can use almost any plant material you like for its scent, color or shape in making potpourri, but make sure all the plant materials you use are thoroughly dried so that your mixture doesn't mold. Dry the ingredients by air-drying or microwaving between paper towels and combine them with spices.
• Flowers and leaves are dry when they feel slightly brittle. Check regularly! If over dried, they will lose all their oil and crumble too easily.
• Essential oil is important in making potpourri because oil gives a stronger, more long-lasting scent than dried ingredients alone can provide. Always use top quality oils and other ingredients. Your potpourri will not only smell better, but will hold its scent much longer. If you haven't had much experience blending oils, it would be wise to only use three.
• Use a tightly sealed glass container to store the dried materials while you are waiting to complete all the ingredients. Plastic or metal container may interact with the essential oils that contain the scent. Make sure to place the glass container in a cool dry place.
• Essential oil, fixative and other aromatic ingredients can already be added to the mixture in the glass container even before you complete the mixture so that the fixative can pick up their scents. Shake the mixture daily.
• Potpourri takes a while to develop its aroma, so by the time you decide you like what you made, you may have forgotten what you put into it. Always measure and write down the amounts of plant material and oils you use. Keep a notebook to remind yourself of your successes / failures for future reference.
• Potpourri needs to age for at least a month before it's ready for use and leaving it longer won't hurt. If the scent is weaker than you want, you can always put more oil on a little fixative, shake it in and age some more.
• Generally, potpourri ingredients should not be finely ground; petals of flowers should be lightly crushed. Ingredients such as cinnamon sticks or orange peels should be broken into small pieces or finely chopped.
• Make sure you potpourri doesn't only smells good but more importantly it should look appealing to the eye. If your potpourri is looking a little dull, toss in some f lower petals or leaves of a dark or contrasting shade.

Potpourri Recipe:

• 5 tablespoons of lavender flowers
• 3 tablespoons of each of carnations and scented rose petals
• 1 ½ tablespoons each of chamomile flowers, heliotrope flowers, salt and oris root powder.
• A little rose oil is a nice addition

Stir the aromatic materials together, and sprinkle them with a few drops of oil with a complementary odor. Place it in a tightly covered glass jar. Shake daily. Age it for a month. Then place it in a decorative bowl for continuous fragrance.