Drying Hydrangeas

For a few years now I've been experimenting with drying hydrangeas.  I haven't found it to be too hard but I thought I'd share some of the things I've learned.

 Endless Summer Hydrangeas 

from 2011

Annabelle Hydrangeas 

from 2012

In both of these pictures that I'm showing, you can see flowers on the shrubs that are both new and older.  

The color of the flower starts to shift as they age and 

that's when you can start cutting them for drying.

Endless Summer Hydrangea

They do loose a bit of color...

2011

These are examples of how the flower changes it's

looks and a prime time to cut them

2010

I let these go a little further to get a more dramatic 

color change.  Initially these were put in a vase of 

water- once they stop drinking- dump the water and 

let them finish drying.

Annabelle Hydrangeas Aug.8, 2012

The Annabelle Hydrangeas are a bit different in how their heads form, so I decided to try hanging them to dry.  I wanted their heads to still look full and was afraid if I left them in a vase to dry they would collapse.  I also noticed they don't make a good cut flower- they don't seem to drink up the water so I waited for them to shift before I cut them.

They dried nicely and kept a good green color.

August 17, 2012

I chose a planter to put them in so the stems would be hidden.  I put styrofoam in the bottom to poke the stems into and stuffed some moss around the stems to finish the look.  I hope to dry some of the white flowers from the Limelights and add them in for a little more contrast 

but that will be weeks away.

Thanks for visiting!

Liz