Hydrangeas are a wonderful shrub with an old style attraction, but they match into the trendy backyard seamlessly. Presumably one of the best factor about hydrangeas is you’ll be able to take pleasure in your beautiful blooms indefinitely. Right here’s how you can dry hydrangeas so that they preserve their color.

With so many sorts, colours, and even bloom shapes, you’d simply have the ability to discover a hydrangea that fits your backyard (so long as you might be fortunate sufficient to have the fitting local weather, in fact!). You may take pleasure in them each on and off the plant too!

The issue many individuals have with hydrangeas is that they turn out to be limp earlier than they’ll dry out. Hydrangeas generally tend to lean in direction of the drama, however they’re really fairly simple to each hydrate AND dry as soon as you understand how to do it.

Trace: You’re not going to hold them the other way up.

That is the straightforward methodology that I exploit to dry hydrangea flowers and preserve their hue.

Hydrangea and Holly — Components of this hydrangea have already gone brown, so it’s somewhat late for slicing and drying.

Dried Hydrangea Colors

In fact, you received’t retain the identical vivid color that you’ve on the plant whereas it’s rising within the backyard. The color which you can obtain on a dried hydrangea is extra of a muted set of greens, grays, blues, pinks, and purples that look lovely when displayed collectively.

The opposite factor to notice is that the local weather and temperature at which the hydrangea shrub grows will have an effect on how a lot color is retained within the dried flower. It’s not an ideal system, however ideally, you might be in search of a wholesome plant grown in applicable circumstances. You may learn extra about that in my important information to hydrangeas.

Do you know you’ll be able to simply change your hydrangea’s blooms from pink to blue (or vice versa)? Right here’s how one can make your hydrangea change color.

Harvesting Hydrangeas for Wreaths — Hydrangea flowers are available many various hues, all creating vintage, muted variations of themselves as soon as dry.

When to Reduce Hydrangeas for Drying

Mom nature and plant care apart, timing while you minimize the blooms is a very powerful issue which you can management. When you go away the hydrangea heads to dry on the shrub, they’ll lose all of their colour. When you minimize the blooms too early, they’ll wilt (versus dry with the petals retaining their form).

As a way to retain essentially the most color, you’ll need to let flowers partially dry on the shrub first. Relying on when your plant blooms, you must begin checking on the flowers mid-way by means of the bloom time.

The color will likely be fading, however they may nonetheless maintain most of their form, and they’re going to begin to tackle a papery really feel. Strive slicing hydrangea blooms when there may be nonetheless some color remaining to get a dried flower with a color that lasts.

blue hydrangea — These blooms have begun to dry and fade in color and this is able to be the perfect time to chop them for drying.

How one can Dry Hydrangea Flowers

Take away all the leaves from the stem (or no less than the a part of the stem that will likely be submerged) and put the flowers in a vase with an inch or two of water.

Place the vase in a cool space, away from direct daylight. The water within the vase will assist to sluggish the drying course of; the bloom will likely be preserved higher with a slower transition. As soon as the water is gone, will probably be fully dried and can final indefinitely.

You may contact the preserved hydrangea heads to see how dry they’re. They need to really feel papery.

The easy way to dry hydrangea flowers to keep color: place stems in a jar of water — This manner of drying hydrangeas takes about two weeks.

A dried hydrangea flower with its color preserved — The identical hydrangea dried!

What to Do With Dried Hydrangeas

Dry hydrangea flowers are very delicate, so it’s typically higher to create your craft or dried flower association earlier than they dry. That’s exactly what I did with this hydrangea wreath. I made the wreath with partially dried blooms and allowed the drying course of to complete on the entrance door! See how you can make the wreath right here.

It’s also possible to add in different dried flowers if you’d like extra selection.

I really like utilizing dried hydrangea flowers in all types of crafts, together with this dried flower association. When you don’t have a big stem, you’ll be able to add some through the use of a bamboo skewer and florist’s tape to increase the stem of your dried hydrangea flowers.

FAQ About How one can Dry Hydrangeas

How do you hydrate hydrangeas?

Earlier than you’ll be able to dry your hydrangea flowers, they need to be as hydrated as potential. After slicing them from the shrub, instantly put them in water.

As soon as inside, minimize the stem once more and, this time, place it in boiling water. Be certain that the steam can escape. On this case, boiling water is extraordinarily useful in forcing the stems to drink water.

Hydrangeas also can drink by means of their petals, so folks soak their flowers in a bowl of water. Whereas this methodology works nice for contemporary hydrangeas, it doesn’t work for flowers which might be already partially dry, which is what we’re going for after slicing the hydrangeas.

Ought to I spray dried hydrangeas with hairspray?

As soon as dried fully, you’ll be able to spray any dried flowers with hairspray. Guarantee it’s low-cost and clear…don’t waste the good things. It will assist to create a protecting layer over the petals so that they’re not fairly as delicate.

How do you retain dried hydrangeas from crumbling?

When the hydrangeas are dried, they’re extraordinarily delicate. I like to recommend making any preparations barely earlier than the entire flower is dried, as will probably be stronger. As above, spray with hairspray and stay away from warmth and daylight to extend the lifetime of your dried hydrangea flowers.