Hill Gardens of Maine --Drying Flowers Part 1

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The Drying Game - Part 1 of 5
by Fred Davis, MG, Hill Gardens of Maine (To view previous articles, click: Archives)

Welcome through Fred's Garden Gate! Most average gardeners quietly and sadly resign themselves to a long winter empty of the lovely flowers that, only a few weeks before, had graced their lives with color and fragrance. Yes. . .it’s sad to leave the outdoor garden behind.

Houseplants relieve some of the sadness, but somehow it’s just not the same. I mean, African violets and Christmas Cactus are nice, but I long for my lupines and roses, delphiniums and pansies and all the other wonderfully cheerful little flower-faces that once looked back from the border. Surely there must be a way to bring my favorites in for the winter! The real trick, as you'll soon see, is to plan ahead.

Enter my very best friend of over 37 years. . .to my rescue (why am I not surprised?!). "Not to fear," says she. "I’ll bring in some of summer’s delights and dry them so they can be our company this winter!"

"What a marvelous idea!" says I. "But doesn’t it take some special trick or magic? Don’t we have to take a class or something?" "Well, no" says she. "Just you watch. You’ll see!"

So, for the price of a paltry few moments of summer effort (which this remarkable person calls fun), our home is frequently host to a quantity of most attractive little dry flower arrangements in baskets and vases, adding joy to joy.

You see, there really wasn’t any magic involved. All it took was a desire, some good old New England resolve, a few wire coat hangers and some twist 'n ties like the ones that come with some household trash bags. Combine those factors and inexpensive materials with a space in your attic or closet—and the following list of "best-bets-to-begin-with"—and you have arrived at the prestigious stage of "expert."

What’s that you say? "Fine time to tell us about this now that the whole world is covered with snow!" "Nay," say I! This is the perfect time. Winter is for planning. If I’d have told you about this in May or June, you’d have been so busy it would never have managed to be squeezed in. Isn’t this the time for resolutions? So make one that says: "This is the last winter I’ll spend with no summertime flowers in the house!"

The instructions are pure simplicity. On a dry, sunny day, cut your fresh flowers leaving fairly long stems. Gather them into small bunches of not more than 6 or 7 stems and wrap the ends tightly with a twist 'n tie. Attach several of these small bunches to a wire clothes hanger—so they dangle down—and suspend it in an attic or closet to dry. The drying process takes anywhere from ten days to three or four weeks. Most will retain their color, but a few will turn a pale tan. Not to worry. Even softer, faded-out colors fit in nicely.

The rest is up to you and your arranging imagination and creativity. Pictures in a book are very helpful. Remember that dried flowers are quite fragile and some delicate parts are bound to shatter away.

Dried arrangements add so much to a home! They brighten a room and certainly brighten spirits. And, almost like the icing on a cake, they make thoughtful and much appreciated gifts—especially to shut-ins.

That’s it for air-drying. Next time, in Part 3, we’ll go into some detail on the art of drying and preserving more difficult flowers like larkspur, delphiniums and daffodils using the silica sand method. Later, Part 3 will expand on the use of silica sand, and provide some tips for getting the best results possible. Now, here’s the list of "best bets" I promised you:

Artemisia; Astilbe; Baby’s Breath; Beebalm; Cattails; Celosia; Chive seed heads; Coneflower seed heads; Globe Amaranth; Globe Thistle; Goldenrod; Gomphrena; Heather; Helichrysom; Hydrangea (especially "Pee-Gee"); Lavender; Lunaria; Ornamental Grasses; Pearly Everlastings; Pussy willows; Salvia; Sea Lavender; Statice; Veronica; Yarrow.

Part 3 will continue with sources of flowers for drying, and instructions for sand-drying using silica gel.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

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