As the weather gets colder, we can gather some leaves that are lingering and spray paint them gold for Thanksgiving arrangements.
Often there are still odds and ends in the flowerbeds that can be used in a vase, now or later—interesting twigs, berries, rose hips and seed heads, dried celosia, and hydrangeas.
This is also when I make my potpourri using the rose petals and flower heads that I cut off while deadheading all summer. They are quite dry now, as they have been stored in baskets to allow for air circulation as they dry.
I mix the plant material with the contents of fragrance sachets that I purchase, and then I add additional essential oils such as lavender. When it is well mixed, I store it in jars and tins so the fragrance permeates the petals.
Later in the winter, I will pour the fragrant potpourri into bowls to place in closets and various rooms of the house so that the fragrance permeates the house and improves the stuffy heated air.
While I am pottering about, I listen to some flower music: "The Waltz of the Flowers" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, "Daisies" by Rachmaninoff, "A Spotless Rose" by Herbert Howells, and "The Flower Song" from Carmen. All this helps my gardener's soul prepare for winter.