Everlasting Flowers
by Lori Rose
Summer never fades away when you preserve garden blooms for year-round display. The best flowers for drying are everlastings, a special group of flowers that can be air-dried without losing their color or form. Dried everlastings don’t have the shriveled look of dried roses or daisies. The dried bouquets and arrangements you create can last all through the fall and winter months.
Drying everlasting flowers is not difficult. First, strip the foliage from the bottom of the flower stems and cut the stems to your desired length. To help your flowers maintain their color during the drying process, it is important that you remove them from sunlight as soon as they're cut. Tie bunches of stems together with a rubber band. The rubber band will tighten as the stems lose moisture and become thinner. Using string or twine may cause some stems to fall out as they dry. Hang flowers with large blossoms individually so they don’t rub against one another. Wrap a small rubber band around the stems of single flowers as well as groups of flowers.
Dry flowers in a dark area with good circulation where they won’t be disturbed much, like an unused closet or dry garage or shed. Tie a string to the stem(s), then hang them upside down to dry. A clothing rack, laundry drying rack or dowel suspended from the ceiling make good hangers for drying flowers. Now the hard part—leave your flowers there for up to four weeks to make sure they are completely dry. Be patient; don’t take them down too soon. Once they are dried, remove them from the hangers and gently spray them with an aerosol-type hairspray to help keep the petals from falling off and to give them some extra protection.
To keep stems sturdy, wrap florist wire around them. For short stems you can wire a green florist’s pick to the stems to give them length and strength. Arrange flowers in vases, or in any interesting container such as flowerpots, cachepots, or even teapots with a brick of dry floral foam inside to keep the arrangement in place.
It's easy to grow your own everlasting flowers for drying. They all prefer full sun and well-drained soil. Here are some of the best:
Munstead lavender (Lavandula angustifolia 'Munstead') from England is the most fragrant of all lavenders. It likes dry soil, and may or may not return each year, depending on winter conditions. Lavender is probably the most commonly dried flower in the world. It is used in sachets and potpourris, and retains its lovely scent for months. The tall spikes are striking in dried arrangements, but use them carefully as the tiny purple buds tend to fall off when dried. The hairspray will help keep them in place.
Globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) will bloom nonstop on stiff, 2-foot-tall stems despite heat and drought. The oval, clover-like flowers come in a vast array of colors from white to maroon for your gardening and arranging pleasure. Gomphrena flowers will retain their color indefinitely, and keep their little cone shape whether dried upright or upside down. Tie a dozen or so dried gomphrena with a pretty ribbon and stand the resulting bouquet in florist’s foam in a small, square container. Use them at individual place settings for fun luncheon gifts.
You'll find statice in fresh floral bouquets, usually the lavender or white varieties – it's the one that already looks like a dried flower. Statice comes in a rainbow of hues, including yellow, blue, lavender, red, salmon, white, and rose. The sprays of papery flowers grow on tall, strong stems, eliminating the need to wire them for arrangements. Cut statice when the blooms are fully open. Unlike annual statice that blooms all season long, German statice (Goniolimon tartaricum) is a perennial that blooms only in early summer, so be sure to cut some for drying before they finish blooming.
Tassels of red or maroon blooms dangle from Amaranthus, giving this tall annual its nickname, Love-Lies-Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus). Pick blooms just before frost and hang to dry. These unique flowers dry quickly, and hold their color well. Use them as accents here and there in finished arrangements.
Plumed celosias (Celosia plumosa), also known as Flaming Feathers, come with yellow, cream, orange, red, or pink flowers that are soft, tall and stately. These annual blooms last all season, and dry so easily it's a shame not to try them. Pick fully open but not old flowers just before frost and hang them in loose bunches to dry. The colors will mute a little, but will be vibrant enough to add flair to your display.
Another celosia, also known as Cockscomb (Celosia cristata), doesn’t look like the Flaming Feathers at all, but rather like a flower from another planet. They are very interesting to look at, and have a velvety feel. Celosia cristata, meaning crinkled celosia, comes in hot pink, purple, gold and orange, and also in unique shades of flesh, bronze and pale green. Some are so crinkled they are almost circular like a brain, though most are a fan or cockscomb shape. Their weird, wonderful shapes and textures are a boon to both fresh and dried arrangements.
Strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum) are native to Australia. They look like a pretty, papery daisy both when fresh and when dried and come in a rainbow of colors. Unlike most other everlastings, strawflowers should be picked when the outer two or three rings of petals have developed. If the center of the flower is on view, then it is too late to pick and dry them successfully. This is because they continue to develop after they have been picked, and will open out backwards on themselves, eventually shedding all the petals when dried.
Any hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) that has round balls of flowers is great for drying. All colors fade to an old-fashioned version of their fresh selves when dried, but the darker the fresh color, the deeper the dried color will be. Leave a long stem on the flowers and hang them separately to dry. Dried hydrangea flowers have a beauty all their own, and although they are brittle and paper thin, they will last for years if left undisturbed. Try a large grouping of different colored dried hydrangea flowers in a basket hung on a wall.
If you've ever received a bouquet from a florist, you are familiar with Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila paniculata). It has a cloud of tiny white flowers on strong, almost invisible stems. It looks ethereal in the garden, and just as beautiful dried. The annual Baby’s Breath has tinier flowers than the perennial, but both dry well and will add the finishing touch to everlasting arrangements.
Russian sage (Salvia yangii, previously known as Perovskia atriplicifolia) is a unique addition to the perennial border and the dried flower bouquet. Dainty blooms and downy foliage create a smoky effect when used en masse. From a distance, Russian sage looks like a blue cloud in the garden. Use it instead of or in addition to Baby's Breath for texture and color in fresh or dried arrangements.
A dried bloom is only as beautiful as it was fresh. Choose the most perfect flowers to dry, and enjoy a part of your garden throughout the colder months.
Lori Rose, the Midnight Gardener, is a Temple University Certified Master Home Gardener and member of GardenComm: Garden Communicators International. She has gardened since childhood, and has been writing about gardening for over twenty years.