UCCE Tulare/Kings Counties Master Gardener Program

Make your Summer Flowers Last All Year
By Carolyn Carpino, UC Master Gardener

I have to confess I became a gardener for the flowers. I appreciate foliage and structure and all that, but it's the magic of the flowers that pull me into the garden. I want to be surrounded by beautiful flowers all the time. But how can you make this summertime wealth of flowers last?

The easiest way to bring your flower garden indoors to enjoy all year is to dry flowers. I have read a lot of books about drying flowers that made it sound really tricky, which it may be if you live in an area of high humidity. One advantage of living in the Central Valley, however, is we seem to live in a natural drying oven. You'll be amazed at the vibrant colors and lovely shapes of your home-dried flowers.

To find out which flowers dry best from your garden, experiment with different kinds. Cut flowers when they are completely dry, not wet from dew or sprinklers. Collect three to five of each kind and tie the ends together with a rubber band. (The ones from the newspaper are perfect and free, too).

Hang your flowers upside down in a dark, well-ventilated area like the garage. Once the stems and flowers have hardened, you can use them all over your house. Stick them in a vase or a basket or a purchased grapevine wreath or arch and you've got a lovely memento of your summer garden. Mine still look great after two years. But if you get tired of them or they get dusty, throw them out and make another bouquet. After all, they didn't cost you a thing.

Roses are my all-time favorite dried flowers. You can dry buds and foliage right up to fully open flowers, as long as they haven't started to drop their petals. It is really interesting to see how the colors change as they dry. Most roses darken in color, but some dry almost the same color. Other wonderful dried flowers are delphiniums, larkspur, statice, celosia, achillea, hydrangea, gomphrena-the list goes on and on. You can also grow flowers just for drying. This year I grew Bells-of-Ireland from seed, which produced long stems of green bells which dried beautifully. Try drying foliage, too. I've dried lamb's ear and dusty miller with great success.

Last October we pruned our pineapple guava, which produced a pile of branches with silvery leaves and newly forming fruit. I thought it was pretty, so I tried drying it. At Christmas I sprayed it gold and decorated the mantel with it. After adding some burgundy dried roses and dried hydrangeas, it turned out so well it's still up.

Once you start drying flowers you may find you need a drying rack. My first drying efforts were hung all over my husband's workbench, which was convenient for me but not for him. After a few months of this, he built me a wonderful, inexpensive drying rack. He nailed two-by-fours to the ceiling in our garage. Then he stapled the wire mesh used for stucco to the two-by-fours. A roll of electrical wire and a pair of wire cutters gave me an inexhaustible supply of hooks. Now, even our garage looks like a garden.

It's too hot to plant right now, but the weather is perfect for drying. The next time you're in your garden, look with a new eye at all your plants and experiment with drying flowers. It's a great way to keep your summer garden with you all year.

July 8, 1999

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