HEAVENLY HYDRANGEAS

Summer gardens = hydrangeas. Beautiful blue hydrangeas. This blue is pure magic. Blue bliss. Only once a year these blue bloomers adorn gardens almost everywhere you look. And I look. I even go out of my way just for a glimpse of some of my favorites. The hydrangeas in my garden bloom to a beautiful almost periwinkle all summer and fade to a soft pale blue-gray as the weather cools. So beautiful. I love that you can preserve the blossoms, capturing a summer moment, always ready to arrange in a basket or pitcher to chase away the winter blues.

Drying hydrangeas. A simple technique that as it slowly dries, preserves a slightly faded, papery flower that will last years if cared for properly. Who doesn’t like a little summer in the winter?

This is what you will need-

Hydrangeas

Pruners or Floral Sheers

Glass Jars

Water

Welcome to my garden...

There is less stress on the flower with a greater chance to dry if it is cut early morning from the plant. Choose and cut your flowers any length you like. I usually snip the stem about 10 to 12 inches down from the flower. Place immediately in a container of water. Take the container inside and place in a cool dark room, with as little light as possible. Let sit overnight.

Wash and dry your glass jars. Any jar will do. I have these family milk bottles that I use. I like the narrow opening and they are tall, perfect height to support the cut stem.

The next morning, fill your jars with about 6" of water.

Check your container for wilting flowers and discard. If you look close to the top, there is one flower that is starting to wither away. This flower probably would not have dried correctly anyway. Survival of the fittest. The rest of the hydrangeas look perfect.

Take one stem at a time out of the container. Remove all leaves down the length of the stem. You can leave a few leaves up close to the flower, if you like. Just make sure leaves are not in the water once placed inside the jar.

Hold the stem up next to the glass jar to measure the length where your need to cut the stem. Ideally you would like the flower to rest on the lip of the jar, for support.

With your floral sheers or pruner, snip off the bottom of the stem at a sharp angle. This will allow more water to be drawn up into the flower as it slowly dries.

Place the flower in the jar. I like to have no more than two flowers together so there is a little space around each flower.

Place all your jars/flowers in a dark, cool place. The darker the better. My hydrangeas go right the basement, as unattractive as that is, there is no light, it is very cool and room for air to circulate around the flowers. The three elements that you need to correctly dry hydrangeas.

All you have to do now is wait. That’s it. As the stem slowly absorbs the water from the jar, the flower will gradually dry. I like to check on the progress daily, just to make sure the blossoms stay clean and dry and that mold is not growing. Yuck. Once all the water is gone, the blossom should be light and papery. It might take a week or two for the flower to completely dry. 

Once dry, the hydrangeas will last for a very long time. I have some that I dried five or six years ago. I do take care of them, when not in use, they are carefully placed in a box away from heat, sunlight and left undisturbed. They are fragile, but beautiful. Perfectly dried.

Heavenly...