You have received a bouquet of flowers: what if you decide to keep it longer by trying the drying experience, with very simple methods to implement at home! Indeed, there are different methods of drying flowers but at Polhine, we recommend above all natural and easy methods for a lasting and ecological result.
How to choose your flowers to dry?
A large number of varieties of flowers can be dried, among which we can find for the easiest:
- statices,
- craspedias
- gypsophila,
- immortals,
- yarrow,
- limonium;
but also plants such as eucalyptus, or grasses.
Ideally, you should select flowers for drying when they are halfway through their bloom cycle. Indeed, they will continue to open slightly as they dry, so it is important that they still have a slight margin of growth to prevent the petals from falling off or losing their color too much.
Drying flowers hanging in the open air
This drying method is the simplest to implement, simply letting nature operate!
All you need is scissors, rope or wire, a coat hanger and patience.
Now, let's move on to the steps for preparing your plants and flowers:
1. First, remove the foliage from the stems and cut them. Make sure at this stage to protect them from direct sunlight.
2. Then, you will need to hang them individually or in small bunches using a rope or wire, the heads upside down.
3. Now hang them in a dark and airy corner of your home, like in a closet for example.
Now you just have to wait two to three weeks for them to dry completely. Lacquer everything with a traditional lacquer, and you're ready to use it as you wish: potpourri, bouquet of dried flowers or even in a bottle!
The pressing method
Pressed flowers are ideal for making herbariums or floral paintings, or even for making original postcards.The necessary material : several books (and preferably thick), absorbent paper such as coffee filters, and your flowers.
First step: Remove, as for the first method, all unwanted foliage from your stems.
Second step: Open the book and place the paper towel on a first page. Make sure it's a book that you don't mind being damaged.
Third step: now place your flowers with their heads on the paper towel. Once all your flowers are positioned in the book, place it in a place out of reach of curious people! And add, with the help of the other pounds, extra weight on your home press.
Your pressed flowers will now be ready to use in 3-4 weeks. Do you notice that they are still slightly damp? Wait two more weeks, until they look like paper.