Does anyone have suggestions or experience drying flowers. I've just tried using silica gel in the microwave and it worked pretty well on roses but wasn't too good on calicarpa (beauty berry)...I'd love to hear from folks who have had good experience, especially with berries. Thanks.
well let's see. You pick them just after the dew is off them, tie them in small bundles, and dry them hanging in a dim place with good air circulation. I bet someone will come along who knows about the newer methods, but that's how I've done it. O, and, Welcome to the Stew!!
Rather than a silica gel, you might want to try a glycerin method of preserving calicarpa. It'd take several weeks for "curing" this way and there will be a change of color in leaves and berries, but the end results are pleasing and everlasting. The selected stems for preserving MUST still be in an ACTIVE GROWTH CYCLE: that is when the sap is continuing to rise in the stalks, NOT when they're going into their fall dormant cycle. When stalks are freshly cut, gently scrape off the bark from the very bottom two inches so they can absorb liquid, have your glycerin mixture ready to recieve them. Glycerin mixture: mix 1 part glycerin with 2 parts VERY HOT WATER, place in a lidded jar and shake vigorously to thoroughly blend. Pour this into another jar to depth of 3 inches, place your calicarpa's in this. Check every five days for evaporation, refill to jar depth as needed with new mixture. You'll notice the color change plus a "glossy" appearance beginning after a week or so. Material is ready when leaves or bracts have a very supple feel to them, not dry and brittle. I've found using glycerin for any "woody" stemmed plant is the only way to go for thorough preserving, just takes a little longer for end results. With flowers, it's pick them BEFORE fully opened and hang upside down..in small bunches..in a warm, dark, well-ventilated area til dry to the touch: even roses, and rose buds, dry beautifully this way and you don't have the mess that silica gel can be. IF you have a lot of roses, try to catch the petals just before they drop, spread thinly on a wire screen and cure in same enviornment as stated above: you will have beautiful jars of them to display in bathrooms, etc., or the basis for a colorful pot pourri. Most roses hold their color in drying, but beware of white ones: they have a tendency to turn "brownish". You can dry just about anything: grasses; weed pods (milkweeds are great in dried arrangements!); herbs and flowers, so please don't overlook your native "offerings" found locally. (I've worked a lot with the differant types of Goldenrods found growing wild, many are very sweet-scented even dried, and NO! They DO NOT bring on hayfever attacks, it's ragweed that causes that agony despite common belief!) Anyway: ENJOY your drying and compiling arrangements with such, it is so much fun!
Thank you for your reply re: Drying Flowers These are great suggestions, especially regarding use of glycerin. I was not able to get this info anywhere re: drying callicarpa. You have been generous in your information. Now I see why Garden Stew is such a great resource.
Thanks for all the great information on drying flowers. I have wanted to do this but have not been brave enough to try it. This sounds pretty easy though and I think I will try doing some in the next few days.
