Simple Projects with Dried Hydrangeas

Now is the perfect time to bring some of those glorious fall colors indoors! I have some simple arrangements, using dried hydrangeas, that I think you are going to love to try.

You can dry hydrangeas a number of ways. The best and most popular method is to put them in a jar or vase with about an inch of water. By the time the water disappears, the flowers are dry.

Another easy way is to hang bunches to dry. Simply secure your flowers with an elastic band and hang them in a cool, dry place that out of direct sunlight.

This certainly works, but based on my experiments, I am not sure it is always necessary to dry the flowers first before you use them. Dried hydrangeas are brittle and fall to pieces easily. 

Fresh flowers harvested at this time of year are often much easier to work with. With the cool fall temperatures, hydrangeas are already somewhat dry and papery. Fresh stems are strong and woody making them easier to use.

My first project was to fill a basket with hydrangeas and dried roses.

It's standard practice for dried arrangements of this type to use a piece of florist's foam to hold the flowers in place. 

Florist's foam is full of chemicals and isn't biodegradable, so I opted instead to use an old fashioned flower frog. (Note: If you are doing a basket up as a gift, you may want to resort to using the florist's foam. It will make the arrangement more transportable.)

The mix of flowers I used include:

Hydrangea 'Invincibelle Spirit' (seen above on the left as they looked earlier in the summer. This Proven Winner's cultivar has flowers that are smaller and finer than many other varieties of hydrangea. Unfortunately, the stems aren't super sturdy)

 Hydrangea paniculata 'Little Lime' (seen above on the right).

Here's how to make your own basket arrangement:

Go out to your yard and pick a generous armful of hydrangea flowers. 

Remove all the leaves and trim the hydrangea flowers to a length appropriate to your basket (as shown above). 

Place the metal frog in the bottom of your basket.  Insert the woody stems into the metal frog. 

Put the basket aside while the hydrangea flowers dry enough for you to move on to the next step, which is adding the dried roses. 

Roses must be hung to dry. Fasten bunches of roses together with an elastic band and then hang them, upside down, in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. It will take a little over a week to dry roses. When the rose stems are stiff, they are usually ready to use.

Trim the dried roses to a length appropriate to your basket (mine were about 8 inches). 

Gently poke the roses in amongst the hydrangeas and allow them to catch in the maze of flower stems. (If you opt to use foam, secure the roses into the florist's foam inside the basket.)

This is my finished basket filled with dried hydrangeas and roses.

This hydrangea wreath was another project where I used fresh flowers. Once assembled the wreath dried perfectly.

To keep this post a reasonable length, I have posted instructions separately here.

How to make a dried hydrangea arrangement for a vase or urn:

Cut your hydrangea flowers to a length appropriate to your container. Remove all the green foliage.

Gather the flowers into a pleasing bouquet and fasten the flower stems together with an elastic band. 

To double-check your arrangement is pleasing, place the tied flowers into the urn or vase. Remove the elastic, if necessary, and make any minor adjustments. Gather the flowers back up and refasten the elastic band when you are happy with the arrangement. 

Hang the flowers in a cool, dry place out of the direct sun. 

Before you know it the flowers will be dry enough to place right side up in your vase or urn. 

I left the elastic in place to hold the flowers in position. Another arrangement done!

Even individual hydrangea flowers have a decorative potential. 

I used a few of the dried flowers along with some dried purple Gomphrena to pretty up this bird's nest.

Purple Gomphrena (see my post on Simple Techniques for Drying Flowers)

Often I collect things I like with no intended purpose in mind and group objects together later. 

This is a perfect example. The silver pedestal dish came from a charity shop ($5). The bell-shaped glass cloche was purchased from a home decor store a few years back ($8-10). The straw nest is from the craft store ($8). The speckled eggs and ceramic bird are tiny treasures I picked up somewhere or other in my travels. 

I like to think that, grouped together, my random collection of things becomes rather charming. 

In behind is another bunch of dried hydrangeas in a white pitcher. (Yes, I do have loads of hydrangeas in my garden!)

If you have hydrangeas in your garden, it's not too late to think about drying some of them!

Simple Techniques for Drying Flowers

 

There was a time when dried floral arrangements were hugely fashionable. Every fall I would make  up bouquets and a dried floral wreath to hang in our bedroom.

Styles change and over the years it became harder and harder to find the raw materials for my wreaths and flowers to make up dried arrangements.

Finally the habit of drying summer flowers faded altogether from the my fall routines.

Then, as luck would have it, I came across bunches of Strawflowers and Statice at the local Farmer's Market this summer. 

The fresh, new-mown-hay smell of the Strawflowers made me feel so nostalgic that I found myself wondering why I had ever stopped drying flowers.

There are a great many types of flowers and plants are suitable for drying. 

Here are just a few: roses, lavender, peonies, amaranthus, celosia, larkspur, Baby's Breath or gypsophia paniculata, hydrangea, German statice or Statice tatarica, Italian statice or Statice latifolium and a wide variety of herbs. 

Like Strawflowers, many of these flowers are actually easy to grow yourself.

Strawflowers, Helichrysum bracteatum: are wildflowers native to Australia. These sun loving flowers are actually short-lived perennials (USDA zones 10-11), but are generally grown as annuals in more northern climate zones. They are easy to grow from seed in any hot, dry site. Height: 30-40 cm (12-18 inches) Spread: 24-30 cm (10-12 inches).

Here in more northern gardening zones where are growing season is shorter, it is a good idea to start seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before the last spring frost. If you are in a more temperate zone, you can plant seeds outdoors after all danger of frost has passed.

The flower petals of Strawflowers have a dry, papery texture even before they are dried. The stem is quite fleshy in contrast and becomes a bit brittle when dried. (Quite often the Strawflowers heads are cut from the brittle stems and a florist's wire is inserted into the flower head to act as a stem. If you were preparing the dried flowers for sale or if the flowers are to be handled a lot, I would think about replacing the dried stems with florist's wire.)

This is the Statice, Limonium Sinuatum that I saw growing in the field at Butt's Berry & Flower Farm. It too can be grown easily from seed.

Statice, Limonium Sinuatum: There are a number varieties of Statice or Limonium. Limonium Sinuatum is an annual that has papery blooms on stiff green stems. Full sun. Height : 45-60 cm (18-24 inches), Spread: 38-45 cm (15-18 inches).

The best method for drying flowers varies according to the flower. Hanging flowers to dry is one of the easiest methods for drying a wide array of flowers. 

I dried my strawflowers in small bunches along with some white Statice or Limonium Sinuatum. 

While you may find it more of a challenge to find strawflowers to dry, Statice of varying kinds is commonly available most places you buy cut flowers. I have even seen it at my local grocery store in the floral department.

I was able to buy Sea Lavender or Limonium latifolia (seen above on the top right) at a local flower shop and found some pretty purple Gomphrena (seen above on the left) at the grocery store.

To prepare flowers for drying, remove any leaves and simply bind small bunches together with an elastic band. 

Make a bow with some twine and use one of the loops to hang your flower bunches. (Much to my husband's annoyance, I hung my flowers on a couple of the knobs on my kitchen cabinet doors.) 

Any dry place out of direct sunlight will do to hang your flowers. (Keeping them out of the sun is the best way to preserve the flower's color.)

I found it took about a little over a week for my flowers to dry. 

To make a simple arrangement with your dried flowers begin with the filler materials; in this case the feathery Sea Lavender. (You may find your dried Sea Lavender branches will shed some of the tiny blue flowers so choose a smooth surface on which to work. That way you can quickly sweep up any flowers that drop.)

Then fill in your arrangement with the chunkier Statice, Limonium Sinuatum.

Finally add your accents: in this instance, the Strawflowers and purple Gomphrena.

The overall effect of the finished arrangement is soft and delicate. 

I think you will find that drying flowers is a great way to keep a little bit of summer going well into fall.

In this post I'll show you how to make a wreath with dried flowers. You also might be interested in this post featuring projects with dried hydrangeas.