![]() ![]() This recipe takes longer to dry the flowers, so leave them in the container for 2 weeks. A more economical alternative is to use 40% borax and 60% white cornmeal. ![]() All of these supplies can be found at craft stores. To reuse your silica gel, place in a glass baking dish and heat in the oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. Place the stem in florist foam (Oasis™) when rebuilding the flower, so you do not damage the flower and foliage. Repeat this process when connecting the flower to the stem. Once it has dried, apply hot glue to the wire and position the leaf on the wire. If you have removed the foliage from the stem, cut small segments of floral wire and place them in the stem where the leaves were removed. Otherwise, the stem and the leaves can be reattached with either floral tape or hot glue. Place the floral wire 1/4 inch into the flower and wrap with green floral tape. One simple option is to create a stem out of floral wire and floral tape. Reconstructing the flower can be a complicated process. Reattach the flowers and stems with floral wire and floral tape or a hot glue gun. Spray flowers outdoors, and place on a sheet of wax paper until they dry. ![]() Spray dried flowers with a surface sealer to prevent the flowers from re-hydrating or falling apart. Slowly pour off the gel to see if they are ready. If your container is deep enough, you can preserve two layers of flowers. ![]() If you are drying a larger flower such as a rose, place it either upright or on its side and slowly scoop the sand over it in such a fashion that it retains its shape. If you bury a flower too quickly, you will ruin its shape. Slowly cover the flowers, stem, and foliage with silica gel using a measuring scoop. Place the different plant parts in the container so that they do not touch each other or the edge of the container. In some cases, for example peonies, you will have to separate the foliage from the stem as well. For other flowers separate the flower from the stem, leaving 1/8–1/4 inch of the stem attached. For hyacinths, lilacs, and daffodils you will be drying the entire plant intact. Place one inch of silica gel in the empty container. You will need to dry these flowers in a plastic container with a lid. Once the gel has reached its saturation point, the crystals turn pink. Silica gel is actually not a gel: it looks like white sand with blue crystals. Silica gel is one of the easiest and most reliable desiccants to use. Roses, peonies, dahlias, sunflowers, lilacs, zinnias, hyacinths, and daffodils fare much better when they are dried with a desiccant. An easy way to dry foliage is by laying the leaves flat on an old window screen and placing newspaper on top, so that the leaves do not curl during the drying process.Īir drying works well for smaller flowers, but the process often shrivels large, fragile blooms beyond recognition. I do this with hydrangeas.įoliage is always removed during the air drying process since the leaves tend to curl and look unsightly. The stems will not be as straight as flowers dried by the hanging method, but this may soften the look of your dried flower arrangement. You can also dry thick-stemmed flowers by standing them upright in a can or jar. The drying time will depend on the thickness of the flowers’ stems, the humidity, the size of the bundle, and the air temperature (anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks). Hang the coat hanger in a warm dry closet or attic until the flowers are dry. Hook one end to the coiled rubber band on your bunch of flowers, and attach the other end to a coat hanger. Take a paper clip and pull it apart to create an S-shape. Do not bundle flowers too thickly or tightly otherwise you will create damp spaces that will encourage rot. The rubber band will look as if you twisted a wire around the stems. Then coil the rubber band several times around the entire bundle of stems, sliding it over 2–3 more stems towards the end of the bunch. Take a rubber band and slide it over 2–3 stems. Strip the flowers of their leaves and bundle several stems together. The easiest way to dry flowers is air drying. Avoid any excess moisture on your flowers by collecting them late in the morning once the dew has burned off. It is important to remember to collect flowers when they are at their peak. Below are two techniques for drying flowers. There is, however, a wide range of flowers that can be successfully dried. For most people dried flowers conjure up images of lavender, strawflowers, and statice. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center.ĭrying flowers is a wonderful way to preserve the beauty of your garden. Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Posted in Gardening Tips on May 17 2010, by Sonia Uyterhoeven Tip of the Week: Methods of Drying Flowers ![]()
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