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Pretty Pink Peony Bath Salts Recipe

The beauty of peonies doesn’t have to be seasonal. While gorgeous garden peonies only last in the garden for a few weeks and have a showy but limited vase life, you can preserve the beauty all year by drying the petals and making a gorgeous, naturally-scented peony bath salts recipe.

Peony Bath Salts Recipe

Peonies are a garden showstopper. They are tolerant of poor soil, grow well in Zones 2 through 8 and, and will bloom for up to 50 years if they are happy. I wrote all about growing peonies, the different cultivars, the variety of the flowers, and how to cut them for arrangements here: Perfect Peonies: How to Grow, Harvest, and Show Off Garden Peonies.

When to cut double bomb peonies

Once the petals are starting to fall, I run out to the garden with my harvest basket to collect as many pretty petals as I can. Many years ago, my mother gave me a small bag of mixed scented petals she had collected from her garden. There was cornflower, rose, and calendula of course, but there was also these large, deep fuchsia petals that smelled fantastic: peonies! Ever since, I have been collecting and drying peony petals for natural colour in my bath salts and tub teas. Not all peonies hold the colour and fragrance, though, so it’s worth testing out a few varieties to find the right ones.

How to make peony bath salts

Herbal Peony’s Medicinal Properties

The root of garden peonies (Paeonea lactiflora) is used in Chinese herbal medicine as a herbal remedy for the liver, spleen, and regulating women’s reproductive organs. The root is dried then made into a decoction or tincture and taken orally. The petals and buds are also harvested and made into tea. Peony petal tea can also be used to make flower water and as a herb for the bath.

Dried Peony Petals in a Mortar and Pestle

How to Dry Peonies

Dried peonies look beautiful in flower arrangements and it helps to preserve the beauty of these fleeting flowers. With blooms that last on the plant and a vase for not nearly long enough in a season, dried peonies give you the option to enjoy them throughout the year. The color of dried peonies can vary quite a bit depending on the variety. Some lose quite a bit of their pigment while others hold on to it for many years. In most cases, the colour will be a bit darker and more muted than the fresh cut flower. White flowers can turn yellow to beige, pink flowers can turn a dusty rose, red flowers can turn a deep burgundy.

Cut Peonies

Dry peonies when the flower is fully open but before it starts to wilt or lose petals. Hang single peonies or bunches of up to three peonies from a wire rack in a cool dry place with even temperature. The stems can become brittle after they dry but you can replace them with floral wire if needed. Use dry peonies in dried arrangements and wreaths.Harvesting Peony Petals

Peonies can also be dried for their scented petals. It takes just one or two bomb or double flowers to fill up a mason jar of dried petals so you don’t need much to give you plenty for projects.

Dried Peony Petals in a Mason Jar

Peony petals can be used in potpourri or use to make a herbal bath soak.

Pink Peony Bath Salts

Peony Bath Salts Recipe

This fragrant peony bath salt is all natural. With no added colour or fragrance it is a celebration of the vibrant and beauty of nature, captured in a jar. The Epsom salts base soothes achy muscles with magnesium, while the two Himalayan pink salts and minerals to be absorbed in the warm water.

Ingredients to Make Peony Bath Salts

Ingredients

Makes 2 cups (250 ml)

Make it!

Crumble dried peony petals using your hand or pulse in a herb grinder. To get ½ cup of crushed petals.

Dried Peony Petals in a Coffee or SpiceGrinder

Combine with salts and stir to mix.Making Peony Bath Salts

Package in pretty jars for gift giving.

Pretty Peony Bath Salts Recipe

How to Use Peony Bath Salts

Use 1/2 cup of Peony Bath Salts in a warm bath for a standard-size bathtub and 1 cup for a soaker tub. Soak in the warm water for 20 minutes while drinking a full glass of water. At the end of the bath, use a strainer in the drain to catch the plant material for the compost bin.

If you don’t want to clean out the tub after bath time, turn the bath salts into a peony Tub Tea by adding the salts to a paper tea filter or muslin bag.

More Bath Recipes to Soak in

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for this, I moved recently and there is an amazing garden full of peonies! I’m in heaven right now! I will definitely be cutting & saving some of my fuchsia peonies to make gifts! :)

    Reply
  2. This is wonderful! My peonies are going crazy out there and I always feel so bad when they’re gone. Thank you for the recipe. I’m also going to share it on my Facebook page and one of my Pinterest boards.

    Reply
  3. My peonies will be blooming soon here in Northern Il, I am going to dry a few and make some bath salts. Thanks for this Stephanie!!

    Reply
  4. Thank you for sharing!! My peonies are going to bloom very soon, I love the fragrance 😍😍 I will definitely making bath salts for gifts this year !!!!!!!!<3

    Reply

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