How to preserve your summer flowers
With radiant summer flowers in full bloom, Alice Hare is here to show you the world of flower drying, so you can preserve your petals for longer. Whether you’re a bride getting married this year and you want to keep your bouquet as a treasured momento, or you simply want to turn your beautiful hydrangeas into a stylish home accessory, Alice is here with her expert tips and tricks.
Best flowers to dry this time of year:
Statice - Found a lot in bouquets - really easy to dry, they almost grow dry.
Nigella/Love in the mist - Their seed pods provide amazing colour and texture.
Achillea - wait until the flowers are open before drying
Poppy - tough plants that are easily found in gardens or on wasteland
Allium - great for Christmas decorations - like giant baubles on a tree.
Honesty - gorgeous green peonies that dry beautifully, retaining their fresh colour.
Penny cress - found in lots of bouquets and super easy to dry - provides light texture
How to dry flowers in the summer heat:
Take a bunch of 3-5 stems, tie them together with string and hang them somewhere that's out of direct sunlight, in a warm, dry room. A cupboard under the stairs is perfect!
How to make petal confetti:
Carefully pull the petals from the head of the flower and scatter them on a bed of chicken wire/ similar. Leave to dry for a week or so.
How to keep a wedding bouquet:
It's best to dry flowers when they are at their peak
Take apart the bouquet and hang in a dry space
Once dry you can rearrange them into a dried bouquet
Pressing flowers:
This works best with flatter flower heads like pansies. You can buy flower presses, but you can get great results by placing the flowers inside the pages of heavy books and leaving them for a few weeks.