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Decorating with the Dairy Diary - Everlasting Flowers

Did you need reminding that Christmas is only a month away? That means one of our favourite stocking fillers is back! The iconic Dairy Diary has so much more to offer than its name suggests. Bursting at the seams with lovingly-created recipes, it’s got inspiring home and garden tips, too. Check out this sneak peek into the 2023 edition here, and make sure to pick up your copy before it’s too late!
Dairy Diary
Posted 03-11-22

Think beyond the dust and chintz: dried flowers are no longer the preserve of cemeteries or bowls of pot pourri. Seen with fresh eyes, preserved bouquets can bring texture, elegance and beauty to your home, even in the depths of winter...

There are plenty of reasons why dried flowers are suddenly so on trend, and an increasingly common sight at weddings and restaurants. Dried bouquets make a simple but structural statement and last for far longer than a conventional bunch of blooms. In fact, dried properly, a bouquet of ‘everlastings’, as they are sometimes called, can last for a year before needing to be replaced.

This also makes dried flowers easier on the environment than conventional flowers, which are often flown in from abroad and require immense amounts of water during the growing process. Buying a bunch of fresh flowers can be expensive and is not always eco-friendly, but dried posies come with none of these disadvantages. Yet they still offer a welcome boost of floral joy, especially during the long, cold months of winter.

 

Use What You Have

If you have outdoor space, looking at the plants you have with fresh eyes might throw up some obvious options for drying. Hydrangeas, found in many a British back garden, are perfect for drying. So are lavender, larkspur, lady’s mantle, eucalyptus and fluffy baby’s breath (also known as Gypsophila paniculata). You can also forage for foliage to dry when out and about – wild ferns and teasels are especially well-suited to drying.

 

Dry It Yourself

There are several different methods for drying flowers, though arguably none is easier than air drying (see instructions below).

You can also use dry evaporation, which lets you enjoy the beauty of the flowers as they dry. To do this, remove any undesired leaves, put your flowers in a vase, and add enough water so that the ends of the stems are submerged. Display on your mantelpiece and then bide your time – after two weeks, the flowers should be fully dried. This method works well for roses, hydrangeas and baby’s breath.

 

The Best Flowers For Drying

As a rule, the best plant material to choose for drying has a low moisture content and woody stems – think delphiniums rather than daisies. Some of the best options are astrantia, strawflowers, nigella, poppies, scabious and statice. Grasses, like pampas and hare’s tail, also work particularly well.

Flowers with a strong structure are perfect because they will continue to hold their form when dried. Spring alliums can be left to dry naturally in the sun and picked in the summer; they’ll last in a vase for months and have a dramatic, architectural feel. With a similar appearance, echinops (globe thistle) works very well. Honesty seed pods are also a natural choice and add a dash of luxury to any arrangement with their lustrous silvery shine.

While they are beautiful fresh, large, blousy flowers with many layers, such as peonies and dahlias, do not dry as well due to their high water content. However, if these are among your favourite flowers and you wish to preserve them, individual petals can still be collected and dried.

The best way to see what works is to give it a go. Picking flowers from your own garden or those found while out on a walk means you have little to lose, and it’s easy to learn with practice which blooms dry best.

 

A World of Floral Possibilities

Once your flowers have dried, what next? Wreaths, pressed flowers, framed displays, bouquets, garlands – the world of everlasting flowers is your oyster.

Pressing small flowers the old-fashioned way, between the pages of a heavy hardback book, is a simple and satisfying way to dry out flowers for use on cards and for decoration. Petite posies of violas, violets, sweet peas and forget-me-nots are very good options.

When making dried flower arrangements, pay attention to tones and textures. Mixing grasses with more solid blooms will give a bouquet interest and flow. You can also experiment with colour – the deep blues of lavender contrast beautifully with the golden tones of dried grasses. Whatever you decide, everlasting flowers bring elegance and vintage style to a home, and allow us to enjoy the riches of spring and summer all year round.

 

How to Air-Dry a Bouquet

You Will Need:

  • A bunch of flowers
  • String
  • A warm, dry, dark spot

Air drying is the traditional method for drying bouquets, and as luck would have it, it is also the easiest method to try at home.

1. Strip away any unwanted or excess foliage from the stems of your flowers.

2. Arrange the bouquet to your preference and tie the stems together firmly with string. The stems will shrink as they dry so make sure you have tied the string tightly enough without crushing the stalks.

3. Hang the bouquet upside down in a well ventilated room, cupboard or garage. Rooms with high moisture levels, like bathrooms, should be avoided, but an airing cupboard is ideal. Light will bleach the flowers, so unless that’s the look you’re aiming for, choose somewhere dark.

4. Leave for at least three weeks until the flowers have shrunk and lost some colour. Leaving for longer won’t hurt either. Be careful when handling the flowers, as they will be delicate and brittle.

 

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Dairy Diary here.

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