Did you know that the word potpourri is French for rotten pot? Make Victorian moist potpourri by thickly layering fragrant blossoms with salt in a wide-mouthed ceramic or opaque glass jar. (Rotten pot isn't pretty.) Use blossoms of rose, carnation, peony, lilac, honesuckle, or lavender and the leaves of scented geraniums and other fragrant herbs. Add a splash of brandy or vodka to each blossom-leaf layer, and press down firmly. After six weeks, add a little more brandy and (if you wish) 2 teaspoons of orris root as a fixative and stir. Store for six more weeks, then place in pretty non-metallic containers with lids. (Perforated lids are especially nice.) Victorian ladies kept their potpourri jars covered until they wanted to scent the room.