With autumn in the air, it’s that time once again to revamp your home to match the season. The warmth of orange is a classic way to embrace the energy of falling leaves and temperatures. A perfectly delightful way to incorporate this cosy ambience into your space is by making aromatic citrus garlands to hang around your home. Canberra Daily created our own garlands, and here are the bewitchingly charming results.

What you’ll need

Citrus of your choice; we chose lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges

A dehydrator (or oven, but we’re told that doesn’t work as well)

Jar or container

String or twine

Sewing needle

Scissors

Steps

1. Gather your citrus of choice.

2. Use a mandolin to slice your choice/s of citrus to roughly 1/2 cm thick.

3. Place them in your dehydrator, making sure none are touching.

4. Turn your dehydrator to 60^oC and leave for roughly 5 hours (note: the slices at the bottom dry faster than the top ones). Rotate and flip as necessary during the 5 hours.

5. Leave to dry in your jar or container (but don’t leave them uncovered overnight, they will gain back moisture – we learnt the hard way).

7. Once dry, use a needle to thread your string through the citrus slices. Decorate your home as desired with your gorgeous citrus garlands.

Properties and benefits

Not only do they make your home smell delicious, but incorporating different citrus into your home décor is said to bring added benefits, including cleansing, cleaning, and purifying your space.

Here are a few of the specific properties for each type of citrus CW used in our garlands:

Oranges: Joy, happiness, purification, luck, and money.

Lemon: Longevity, happiness, refreshment, rejuvenation, purification, and money.

Lime: Protection and purification.

Grapefruit: Purification. 

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