YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
home + garden
Tips on drying flowers, herbs
- Article by: HGTV Television
- Updated: November 8, 2006 - 3:55 PM
Drying flowers and herbs will assure a plentiful supply for home decor. Some tips:
- 0
- comments
resize text 
- buy reprints
Drying flowers and herbs will assure a plentiful supply for home decor. Some tips:
Herbs:
Bundle several stems together and wrap a rubber band around the ends.
Bend open the ends of a paper clip to form a hook and hang the herbs away from direct sunlight.
Dry two to four weeks.
Flowers:
Pick them just before they are fully open.
Harvest after the morning dew has evaporated.
Some flowers, including straw flowers and hydrangea, can be air dried by hanging upside down in a warm, dry area for several weeks.
Other flowers, including sunflowers and zinnias, are best dried using silica gel, which draws the moisture and preserves color and shape.
Line the bottom of a plastic container with a layer of gel.
Immediately place the cut flower face up in the gel and carefully sprinkle additional gel around the blossom. Repeat this process with other flowers until the container is full; then seal the container with a tight lid.
Most flowers dry in about 10 days; don't open beforehand.
Once the flowers are dry, pour the silica gel into another container and set aside. It is reusable; just follow the directions.
Use an artist's brush to remove any remaining gel from the flower.
Tape floral wire to the flower heads to create artificial stems.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.
- 0
- comments
- resize text
- buy reprints
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2012 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters
