Everlasting flowers - dried flowers and potpourri - Special Issue: Spring-Summer 1994 Garden Guide

Sunset, Spring-Summer, 1994 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

Here's how to dry blooms for year-round floral beauty

The enchanting beauty of fresh flowers needn't fade with the seasons. Dozens of warm-weather bloomers lend themselves to drying and can be preserved for years in arrangements and wreaths.

Strawflowers and statice--often referred to as everlastings--are well known to many gardeners. Botanically, everlastings are a group of plants in the sunflower family that have papery bracts (petal-like structures). But the broader definition includes any flower (or seed pod) that retains form and color after it dries.

Many flowers suitable for drying are common annuals, perennials, and shrubs--delphinium, feverfew, hydrangea, lavender, larkspur, liatris, roses, salvias, and yarrow. But a wide variety of materials beyond these common plants can be dried. They range from delicate-looking fillers like cloud grass (Agrostis nebulosa) and statice (Limonium latifolium) to dramatic artichokes and poppy pods. Many wildflowers, grasses, and pods also dry well.

You can air-dry most of these flowers by hanging them upside down; a few of them are best dried upright.

GETTING STARTED

If you're new to gardening or just want to grow a small patch of flowers, buy nursery transplants instead of sowing seeds. Many better nurseries now carry good selections of perennials in containers; you can also buy small plants through the mail. Fewer annuals for drying (cockscomb, globe amaranth) are sold as seedlings.

If you want to try some special varieties, you need to start from seed. Sow love-in-a-mist, safflower, and grasses directly in the ground. Others can be started in flats or small pots filled with a mixture of equal parts of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. Add a controlled-release fertilizer. Most seeds germinate readily in household temperatures (60 |degrees~ to 75 |degrees~ during the day, 50 |degrees~ to 60 |degrees~ at night).

To produce healthy flowers with optimum color, fertilize and water regularly. If you use sprinklers, water in the morning so the flowers aren't wet overnight. HARVESTING FLOWERS

Depending on the kinds of flowers you grow, harvest can last for months. Flowers must be harvested at the proper stage to retain good color and form after drying. With some flowers, you may need to experiment.

When multiple flowers develop on a single stalk, you can either harvest individual flowers with short stems (you can extend the stems with wire) or cut the entire stalk when flowers are at various stages of development.

To harvest, pick flowers in the morning after the dew has dried but before temperatures rise. If you want to strip off large leaves, do it before drying.

AIR-DRYING

To air-dry flowers, make small bunches (15 to 20 or so) of a single kind and tie them together with a rubber band (don't use string; the bunches will fall apart when the stems shrink). Then you can hang them upside down on a coat hanger or drying rack; leave plenty of space between bunches for air circulation. Allium, statice, yarrow, and tall grasses like pampas grass can be dried upright in an empty vase. For baby's breath and hydrangea, fill the vase with 2 inches of water.

Place materials in a dark, dry area with good air circulation and temperatures between 70 |degrees~ and 110 |degrees~--an attic, warm basement, or water heater or furnace room, for example. Keep them out of light and high humidity. Allow about three days (or at least 24 hours) for most flowers to dry well. If stems are still soft after several days, temperatures may be too cool, and rotting or loss of quality may occur.

Most flowers are dry when stems snap. The exception: dense flowers such as celosia (cockscomb); break one in half to check. Seed pods, grains, and roses need a couple of extra weeks to dry.

After drying the materials, you can leave them hanging in bunches away from sunlight or store them in boxes in a warm, dry area. Wrap them in newspaper and layer them. Don't overcrowd the boxes or flower heads may be crushed.

DESIGN TIPS

Just before arranging dried flowers, recondition them by spraying lightly with water to make them more pliable and less apt to break.

To protect the flowers and prevent shattering, finished arrangements can be sprayed with a dry-flower sealer (available at craft stores). Some flower stems are weak and must be wired if used in arrangements.

POTPOURRI THE EASY WAY

Every summer, Suzanne Ashworth gathers flowers, petals, berries, leaves, and pods in her garden in Sacramento, California, then dries and scents them to make potpourri.

Through experimentation, Ashworth has discovered which materials are attractive and hold their color. Although she uses tried-and-true flowers such as roses, lavender, and globe amaranth, she also adds some Western accents--pomegranate petals, lemon blossoms, bay leaves, acorns, and eucalyptus pods. She picks flowers when they're at their peak of color, before they start to fade. Her drying method is simple: all it takes is a window screen and several days in a well-ventilated area.

To create a mix, she comes up with a theme that's appropriate for the room where she plans to display it. "I choose ingredients for their colors and textures, and match those to the room's decor," Ashworth says.