The Flower Drying Game - Part 1: Air, Sand, and Sources
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Article by: Fred Davis Most average gardeners quietly and sadly resign themselves to a long winter , Want a Garden, But Don't have Enough Dirt Or Space? Hydroponics Gardening Is The Answer! empty of the lovely flowers , 5 Pieces of Equipment Gardeners Can't Live Without that, only a few weeks before, had graced their lives with color , Lawn Mowers Guide - Cut a Fine Figure of Your Lawn and fragrance. Yes, it's sad to leave the outdoor garden , The Art Of Landscaping Your behind. Houseplants relieve some of the sadness, but somehow it's just not the same. I mean, African violets and Christmas Cactus , How to Grow Cooking Herbs are nice, but I long for my lupines and roses, , Strawbale Construction Wins Hands Down 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! , izing Your Roses The real trick, as you'll soon see, is to plan , Should You Hire a Landscape Designer? ahead. Enter my very best friend of over 45 years, Linda. . .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! , How To Build A Waterfall " "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 trifling few moments of summer , Garden Tables Aren't Just Decoration effort (which this remarkable person calls , Italian Vegetable Seeds fun), our home , A Few Things About Flowers is frequently host to a quantity of most attractive little dry flower , Seed Starting Tips 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 most household , Discover the Single Most Important Trick to Overwintering Pond Fish trash bags. Combine those factors and inexpensive materials with a space in your attic or closet"”and selections from the list of "best-bets-to-begin-with" that I'll include below"”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! , How to Grow Cooking Herbs " "Nay," say I! This is the perfect time. Winter , Permanently Remove Green Pool Algae 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 , Theme Gardens I'll spend with no summertime flowers , 5 Pieces of Equipment Gardeners Can't Live Without in the house! , Seed Starting Tips " The instructions are pure simplicity. On a dry, sunny day, cut your fresh flowers, , Fleur De Lotus: Purity in a Sullied World 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 from ten days to three or four weeks. Most will retain their color, , How to Plant Spring Flower Bulbs but a few will turn a pale tan. Not to worry, even softer, faded-out colors , Why Bonsai Beginners Love Baby Jade fit into dried flower , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" arrangements nicely. The rest is up to you and your arranging imagination and creativity. Pictures in a book are very helpful. Remember that dried flowers , Winterizing Your Roses are fragile and some delicate parts are bound to shatter away if handled roughly. Dried arrangements add so much to a home! , Outdoor Lighting Fixtures Increase Safety and Decrease Expense They brighten a room , Patio Chairs - Why My Green Patio Metal Bench Is Giving Me Immense Satisfaction and certainly brighten spirits. The icing on a cake: they make thoughtful and much appreciated gifts-especially to shut-ins. That's it for air-drying. Here's the list of "best bets" I promised you: Artemisia; Astilbe; Baby's Breath; Beebalm; Cattails; Celosia; Chive seed , Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening and Tips for Its Maintenance heads; Coneflower seed , How to Win the War Against Slugs and Snails heads; Globe Amaranth; Globe Thistle; Goldenrod; Gomphrena; Heather; Helichrysom; Hydrangea (especially "Pee-Gee"); Lavender; Lunaria (seed structures, not the flowers); Ornamental Grasses; Pearly Everlastings; Pussywillows; Salvia; Sea Lavender; Statice; Veronica; Yarrow. The list could go on but I think you get the picture. Just keep your eyes open and don't be bashful. Now let's tackle a trickier process: drying some of the more delicate and intricate blossoms in sand. , Plants To Grow Old With or The Constant Battle Large flowers , Wood Fences: Installing Wood Fences for the Homeowner like roses, , Should You Hire a Landscape Designer? carnations, daisies, delphiniums and many others not only lose their shape, but most fade to brown if simply hung out to dry. Sand Drying. By far the least complicated method is air-drying, but that limits us to a relatively short list of possibilities. Carefully surrounding more delicate and intricate flowers , Garden Sheds - More Than Just Storage with sand , Want a Garden, But Don't have Enough Dirt Or Space? Hydroponics Gardening Is The Answer! (or silica gel) extends the list considerably and opens the door , Growing a Sustainable Garden! to much more elaborate and lovely floral displays that can last for months. First, a word or two of caution. Most sand-dried flowers , Winterizing Your Roses are extremely fragile, shattering at the slightest misadventure. A playful kitten or curious child will quickly turn a beautiful flower , The Art Of Landscaping Your Garden into a handful of fragments resembling breakfast flakes. The entire process briefly described below must be undertaken slowly, very deliberately and with the lightest touch. The final requirement is patience. A flower , Gardening - The Mulberry removed from its sandy bed , Discover the Single Most Important Trick to Overwintering Pond Fish too soon - before it is completely desiccated - will quickly shrivel to ruin...so don't be too anxious. Sand. Probably the most difficult first step is finding just the right sand. , Ideas for Decorating Your Outdoor Patio Area If you're willing to spend a little extra, most larger craft , Your Garden - Start With The Basics stores either have in stock or can order sand , How To Waterproof a Canvas best suited to the purpose, usually in five-pound tins. You'll need about fifteen or twenty pounds to get started. Since sand , How to Win the War Against Slugs and Snails specifically manufactured for the purpose is completely reusable, it should last a while, especially if it's kept reasonably clean. Silica gel may be too tricky (and too expensive) for the beginner, experimenter or for anyone on a limited budget. It dries flowers , Organic Gardening Intro very quickly but must be timed almost to the exact, "just right" moment. Silica sand , Patio Chairs - Why My Green Patio Metal Bench Is Giving Me Immense Satisfaction (or "glass sand"), on the other hand, is perfect, much more pleasant to handle and is considerably less expensive. It is almost pure white , Outdoor Wood Furniture Check the Wood Species Before Purchasing and looks like fine granulated sugar. Beach sand, , Shrub Roses and Climbing Roses masonry or "sharp" builder's sand , Enjoy Creating and Growing a Sustainable Garden While Feeding Your Family and road sand , Seed Starting Tips is irregular and dirty, and may leave an unpleasant and difficult-to-remove residue on your dried specimens. Take the time to find just the right kind. Containers. Sturdy shoe boxes are just about perfect for drying flowers. , How to Win the War Against Slugs and Snails Round cardboard oatmeal containers work well, too, but can be a little awkward. Both have close-fitting lids and are stable, not being easily upset. Plastic , Your Garden - Start With The Basics bags and glass , Permanently Remove Green Pool Algae jars are not suitable; neither are grocery or lunch bags. Where? Just the other day someone said to me "Sure, dry all kinds of flowers! , Starting a Shade Garden... But where can I get flowers , How to Win the War Against Slugs and Snails this time of year?" A reasonable question, and one that's easy to answer. Here's where you'll find plenty of material"”
Ok"¦before going to Part 2, run down some suitable sand , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" and gather up a few mush or shoe boxes. Also, gather together a paper cup or two, and a small, soft artist's paintbrush. Finally, if you're the type who salvages and recycles such things, a block of dried-out "Oasis""”spongy, green , Amaryllis Secrets blocks which florists , Wood Fences: Installing Wood Fences for the Homeowner use in arrangements"”will make a handy place , Discover the Single Most Important Trick to Overwintering Pond Fish to temporarily hold the finished, dried specimens. Part 2 in this 3-part series will show you how to , Introduction to Hydroponics Gardening and Tips for Its Maintenance use your sand , Why Bonsai Beginners Love Baby Jade for drying, and will introduce the secret that florists , Permanently Remove Green Pool Algae have guarded for decades to retain that "live" look in dry-arrangement foliage accents. Later, in Part 3, we'll get the plans , The Advantages of Both a Liner Pond and a Preformed Pond, Rolled Up Into One Box! and instructions for an affordable"”do-it-yourself"”flower press.View the list of Fred's other articles at: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Fred_Davis Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, , Fleur De Lotus: Purity in a Sullied World lecturer, and long-time nurseryman. He and his wife, Linda, own and operate a popular perennial , Outdoor Wood Furniture Check the Wood Species Before Purchasing nursery in Palermo, Maine, and maintain a no-frills gardening , Theme Gardens information website at: http://www.HillGardens.com/ where you'll find answers to your gardening , Patio Canopies: Protecting Your Patio From The Elements questions. |
  
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