Thursday, August 13, 2009

The botanical apothecary

I'm starting to feel like one! The botanical apothecary, that is. I gathered all my jars and bottles of blossoms and petals and pods that I've saved and I realized I have quite the collection. Some of them are meant for projects and others are just to look pretty. Let me take you on a tour of my mad botanical laboratory.

The good news is most of my jars are "recycled" with spray painted lids for a more unified look. The copper and glass jar came from Goodwill and cost me around four dollars.

The majority of my specimens are dried blossoms and petals
(with one of dried orange peel for good measure).




Rose petals, poppy and perennial flax petals and calendula petals.
Everyone needs a pickle jar filled with moss, don't they?

Take a peek at my yucca blossoms.

You wouldn't believe the wonderful, sweet smell when you stick your nose inside.

More blossoms and sweet smelling goodness in a Goodwill candy jar, my recycled Starbucks bottles and vintage glass. Here we have orchid blossoms, paperwhite blossoms, daffodil blossoms, wisteria blossoms, white clover blossoms and lavender.

These wisteria blossoms smell like sugar so it's fitting they are in a candy jar. :)
These are all the blossoms from my windowsill flowers grown during winter.

A dried rose keeps these lavender buds from getting dusty
in this vintage capless/corkless bottle.



Not only do I have the petals and blossoms but I also have plenty of seeds!
Sunflowers, sweet williams, columbine, poppies, chives and a mysetery bottle
(forgot to label it and now I can't remember!)

Tiny snifters hold poppy pods...


...and acorns.

This mod podge of vintage glass, canning jar and tiny sealed jar contains:

acorn caps (in the smallest)



rose hips, star anise, and orange peel in the vintage glass and...


Scented cedar "berries" I made months ago. I gathered the "berries" (they are actually just tiny cones) and placed them in a sealable jar with a few drops of essential oil. Leave sealed for a few weeks, shaking once in a while to make sure the oil gets distributed throughout.
This particular jar is orange clove scented - smells wonderful!



Thus ends the tour!

5 comments:

theUngourmet said...

I know I need a jar full of moss! ;0)

What a nice collection!

I remember when I was a kid someone gave me a rose potpourri and I kept it in a jar. I loved to open the jar and take a whiff. If I close my eyes I can still smell it! Thanks for the memories.

Maggi said...

Wow, that is quite the collection! So awesome, thanks for sharing!

M.L. @ The House of Whimsy said...

Oh my goodness Molly. All of these are completely amazing...and beautiful! You can be proud of this collection and the way you have displayed them!!!

Heather said...

I love the look of all the black lids. They look wonderful!

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

What a fun collection! And that mystery jar...it would be a great surprise to see what blooms from those seeds :o)

Blessings & Aloha!