How to Dry Flowers

How many of you have gone into a 'craft' or home decorating store and saw
the vast varieties of dry flowers for decorating your home? I know, I have
and while cruising through the store, I began to visualize creating my own
dried flowers. A heck of lot cheaper and more rewarding when you do it
yourself. You decide!
Drying flowers has long been a method of preserving the color and beauty of
the bounty of the garden. Whether they are used in bouquets, potpourri, on
hats, in wreaths, or whatever, dried flowers inspire us to recreate a
gentler time of beauty in our-homes.

Some of the flowers to use in drying include straw-flowers, globe amaranth,
cockscomb, baby's breath, Chinese lantern, money plant, and statice. Blue
sage is interesting, as are the seed pods of love-in-a-mist. Don't forget
ornamental grasses, too. Even zinnias and marigolds can be dried for your
creations.

Many flowers can be air dried. This involves cutting them when the dew is
gone, tying several stems together with a string after the leaves are
removed, and hanging in a cool, dark, well ventilated place. Drying time
varies from plant to plant, so check them every once in awhile. When they
feel crisp, take them down and store in boxes or paper bags.

Most flowers can be used as they are, but some, like straw-flowers, will
need wire stems to use them in bouquets. To wire, cut off the stem and
thread a length of 20 gauge florists wire through the center. Make a 2 inch
hairpin bend at the top, and carefully pull it through the center of the
flower. Cover the new stem with floral tape.

Some flowers need a drying agent in order to preserve them. Use something
like fresh kitty fitter, sand, a white cornmeal-and-borax mixture, or silica
gel. The gel will give you the best results. It is commercially available
and sold under several different trade names. Check with your garden center,
or maybe a craft store.
Flat flowers like pansies or daisies are best if placed face down. Flowers
with many petals, like calendulas, mums, and asters do better when facing
up. Experiment to find the best way for yourself. Spikes of flowers, like
snaps and sage are placed horizontally. Very carefully, add more drying
agent until the flowers are completely covered up. Drying time varies among
specimens, but check them after several days. Dry petals will feel like
paper. Store the dried flowers in boxes with a little silica gel to absorb
any moisture in the air.

Ye olde trusty microwave can help to speed up the drying process. Prepare a
few flowers at a time in a small dish and put in the microwave along with a
cup of water. "Cook" on medium for 10 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on the
thickness of the flower. Experiment with the timing because the conditions
are so variable. After using the microwave, allow the flowers to cool in the
drying agent for a few hours to a day or so.

Flowers like daisies, petunias, and pansies with their flat faces, are good
to press and use for decorating stationery, bookmarks, or making pictures.
Place 3 flowers between sheets of blotting paper and put in a flower press
or weight down with books. Check them after a week to see how they are
doing. Fern fronds are good for pressing, too.

Potpourris are made by drying petals on screens or trays in a dehydrator,
gas oven with a pilot light, or electric oven on its lowest setting. Rose
petals usually make up the bulk of the mixture, with other herbs and spices,
flowers, and citrus peels adding additional color and fragrance. To enhance
the fragrance, add 10 drops of an essential oil and 3 tablespoons of orris
root as a fixative to each quart of mixture.

However you dry your flowers, their use for "permanent" arrangements can be
colorful and rewarding, and surprisingly inexpensive. After you have dried
your flowers, pull a strand of number 2 floral wire through the head of
each, and secure it with a bend into the flowers' heads. Finally, wrap each
wire stem in green floral tape and you are ready to create your own
masterpiece!

Remember this entire process is a developing hobby which can result in some
fantastic results for the hobbyist and visual presentation that enhances
your home or whatever place you call home.

Buy your perennial flowers at our online wholesale garden nursery.