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Dried Orange Garland with Fragrant Botanicals

by 53 Comments

This dried orange garland project made with bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks are easy to create and make a beautiful statement in your fall or winter decor.

More Fun Citrus Projects: Dried Citrus Ornaments, Citrus Candle Rinds, Dried Fruit OrnamentsThis dried orange garland project made with bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks is easy to create, and make a beautiful statement in your fall or winter decor.

Have you ever made a dried orange garland? The drying process takes some time, but overall its pretty easy to make. My sister and I used to make these for our herbal shop with different dried fruits, and other botanicals, like dried red hot peppers. Very pretty during the holidays.

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Supplies

Oranges
Whole Bay Leaves
Cinnamon Sticks, 2.75 Cut, 1 Lbs 
Twine

DIY Dried Orange Garland

You can buy dried orange slices but it’s more fun to make your own. Start by slicing oranges about 1/4 inch thick and placing them straight on the oven rack. Bake at 200 degrees (F) for about 4 hours, turning every hour or so. I made them in two batches in the evening and after 4 hours turned off the oven and let them sit there overnight. 

Dried orange garland. Drying orange slices in the oven.

I tried something similar with whole oranges and little clementines but it did not work as well. You can read more about that project in the dried citrus ornament project.

Homemade potpourri made with natural apples, orange slices and cinnamon sticks is a great way to bring a little beautiful and fragrance to your home.

The same process works for apples. You can string them too or just make a pretty bowl of potpourri.

Next, gather your bay leaves in a bowl. I bought a big bag of bay leaves. Many were not big enough to string on the garland so it helped to weed through them ahead of time.

Drill holes in the middle of the cinnamon sticks. You can also just wind the cinnamon sticks around the twine as you go. I did this for half of my garland then switched to drilling holes. Drilling takes more time, but the cinnamon stick stays in place better.

This dried orange garland project made with bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks is easy to create, and make a beautiful statement in your fall or winter decor.

Now all you have to do is string them together. I started with a cinnamon stick, then an orange slice. Then I added 8 bay leaves, another orange slice, 8 more bay leaves, a final orange slice and repeated this combination until the end. It is helpful if you have a large embroidery needle, but you can always use a paper clip or even a piece of wire.

Dried orange garland for your fall mantel.

Of course, you can use any combination you’d like. To give you an idea, the garland above is about 4 feet long. For this, I used approximately 11 oranges, 18 cinnamon sticks (2.75 in) and 250 bay leaves.

I think in the future I might add more cinnamon sticks and some apple slices.

A little time consuming but totally worth it and I got to enjoy the smell of oranges, bay leaves, and cinnamon while I worked.

 

Check out the DIY/Projects Page,
for more great project ideas.

 

DIY dried orange garland

 

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Comments

    • Thanks Carole,

      I agree that natural smells best and this project would work great at Christmas. In fact, I like it as a kitchen ornament all year round.
      Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week.
      Patti

      Reply

    • Hi Donnalee,

      You can try placing few drops of essential oil or fragrance oils on the garland if you want the scent to last longer. Otherwise it still looks pretty even if the scent has faded.
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Patti

      Reply

  6. Do you think that it would work good with apples too instead of oranges? Could I dry out the apples the same way you dried out the oranges and have it work just as good as yours came out? Not that the oranges are not a great idea because it is a great idea but I was just wondering if my house would smell like apple cinnamon if I used apples instead of oranges.

    Reply

    • Hi Amanda,

      I haven’t done apples for a while but as I recall they are not as fragrant and oranges. Still they would look beautiful and if you cut them in whole slices they have a pretty star effect where the seeds are. Certainly worth a try.

      Reply

  7. I actually have a question. Can you do this with apples also? I love apple cinnamon for the winter time. I usually make my own brew in a crock pot, but would like to add this in the living room.

    Reply

    • Hi Dawn,
      I have not tried this with apples but I suspect it would work. I’m not sure how much scent they would hold but they may look really nice. You could try sprinkling cinnamon on them when you put them in the oven. I bet your house will smell fantastic while they are drying. Have you ever sliced an apple from the top? There is a pretty star or flower patter in the middle where the seeds lie. This would be a good hole for stringing the apple. Give it a try with one or two apples and see how it goes.

      Reply

    • Hi Stephanie,

      So glad you liked the garland. It was a fun project to make. I haven’t used apple slices but I have used dried chilis in the past for a nice southwest look. Just another thought.

      Have a great week!
      Patti

      Reply

  9. Hi, I am wondering if the oranges drip juice while in the oven. I understand that the orange slices go directly on the oven rack. Did I read this correctly? I have used a dehydrating machine before to dry out oranges and it gets sticky from the juice. Don’t want a mess. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Hi Nettie,

      I totally understand. What I did was dry the oranges on paper towels first. Blot them with as much as you can with paper towels too. They did not drip in the oven. I think maybe the rack did get a little sticky, but nothing that couldn’t be cleaned afterwards. I don’t know if a little vegetable spray would help? I did flip them several times so that they did not stick and dried evenly.
      Hope it works for you and let me know if you come up with any different solutions.
      Patti

      Reply

  16. Oooh, this is beautiful! I love how festive it looks too!

    Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).

    Wishing you a lovely weekend.
    xoxo

    Reply

  18. Used to have wonderful garland very similar to yours I bought when we lived in KY.There are so many wonderful antique/vintage shops there, still miss it. Mostly miss our house and land.
    Have been here in western CO for over 12 yrs. now, miss MT where we lived before KY. Every place we’ve lived has something I miss, jury still out on western CO, lol. Favorite even over San Diego area is MT. Lived in San Diego areas for 21 yrs. before MT., before S.D. lived in Tucson for 20 yrs., was born in Cleveland, Oh, lived there til I was 10.
    Sure am glad you featured your incredible orange garland, will be making this very soon.
    Have wonderful Fall weekend

    Reply

    • Hi JaneEllen,

      So many wonderful places to live. I’ve been to San Diego twice and really loved it. Just got back from Lexington, KY weekend trip with friends and had a great time. Living in Pittsburgh, PA, I’ve been all over Ohio and my kids live there. I haven’t been to Colorado since I was a teen but I remember it also being beautiful. I’m sure you’ll learn to love it too. Now, Montana is one place I’ve never been. I’ll have to put it on my bucket list.
      Thanks for stopping by. I hope you love your garland and enjoy the rest of this beautiful fall weekend.
      Patti

      Reply

    • Hi Erin,

      So glad you liked it. You could even use it later as a wreath by tying the ends together and hanging it in the kitchen.
      Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!
      Patti

      Reply

    • Hi Corrine,

      I would definitely think they could be dried in a dehydrator but have never tried it.
      I think you could get good results with a little experimentation.
      Good luck,
      Patti

      Reply

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