Extend Summer's Bloom with Dried Flowers

Over the river and through the woods every Sunday when I was growing up….to Grandmother's house I'd go, reluctantly. She'd be waiting for me, dressed in a flowery dress that she sometimes made herself on the old Singer sewing machine, those clunky old black shoes, and a hat, sometimes also embellished with flowers. She even smelled a little like flowers mixed with Chicklets chewing gum. She always gave me a piece of the hard white stuff to bite down on as we headed out the front door to Grandfather's car where he was (also reluctantly) waiting to drive us to Church.


Grandmother also kept a copy of The Family Heirloom Bible. It was gold in color and weighed about 20 pounds. It sat on the coffee table right in front of the couch with the doilies on it. Inside the behemoth Bible there were places to record every family event. All of the births, deaths, marriages and anniversaries were meticulously logged into their rightful place. Sometimes she would take a single flower, most often a rose, place it between two pieces of tissue paper, and press it between the pages of the book next to the appropriate verse. This was the only time that the Bible was opened. It wasn't for everyday use. Sometimes the dried flowers would be discovered years later like a treasured memory that somehow drops onto your lap.


Drying flowers can be an excellent way of preserving mementos of special occasions or just beautifying your home. Dried flowers look nice with other dried materials or as part of an arrangement that includes live flowers. You can use them in bouquets, wreaths, table arrangements, and potpourri. Dried materials last a very long time with very little maintenance.


There are a number of ways to dry flowers:

First of all, pick the very best flowers just before they peak because they will continue to open as they dry. Flowers that are diseased, wilted or have insect damage won't get any better as they dry.