Home Design Luxury: How to Dry Hydrangeas

Thank you to all of you who either:

A. Assured me that there were actually seeing my post about Part 2 of How I Sell on eBay
or
B. Told me they were having problems of their own with Blogger.

I am going to let my hubby look at the post with his "wysiwyg html editor".
I think that's what he called it.
Anyway, he is a Project Manager with Website Pipeline, a website company,
and probably knows more about it than I do.
When he fixes the mess I made, the post will be back up.
Thank you for your patience!

So, instead, I am changing direction and going to talk about
how I preserve, by drying, my delightful hydrangea blooms!
Here in SC, in July, August and September, hydrangeas are ready to be enjoyed indoors.

Our yard has several varieties of hydrangeas. Here are just a few of my favorites.

This is a White Lacecap.
These don't look so pretty when dried, so I just keep them comfortable as long as possible
in a vase.

Another of our hydrangeas is the most well-known, the Nikko Blue.

It looks like this when it first starts getting color.
Then, turns darker blue after a few weeks, then purplish-blue a few weeks later.

They are as stunning when dried as when they are alive.

A few weeks later, and they have matured to this.

Dried at the peak of color, they look like this.

We also have a Compact Peegee Hydrangea tree.
Yes, I said: TREE!
There is a center trunk, and the branches that support each head spread out to form a tree!
It grows about 5-6 feet tall.

It is an amazing and lovely thing.

The flower heads are a HUGE 10"-14".
They start out white, turn to lime green, then fuschia pink, then bronze/red

over the course of 6 weeks!

These, by far, are my favorite to preserve.

This is a picture from a catalog.

I just cut all the heads off mine, and she refused to smile for the camera.

This is what she looked like as a baby. Cute, no?

Some hydrangeas bloom sooner than others, and as the blooms remain on the plant,
the heads go through color changes.
You can wait till the plant makes just the perfect shade, prune it, then dry it.

These flowers are from our Peegee tree in our front yard
that I just trimmed three days ago.

The are quite large. And green. I cut them when they were this shade.
They will dry this way.

If I wait a few weeks, this is their color.

In Miss A's room, on her blue vanity.

And still more, in different hues.

These are from the same tree, these are a few years old, and have faded,

but I love the rich gold of the petals that blend with the basket they're in.

Same basket in the dining room.
(Hidden behind the chandelier!)

In the Master Bedroom., same tree, different container, lighter lime shade.

If you'd LOVE to grace your home with these darling, happy, quintessential clusters,
here's how:

Own a living, blooming hydrangeas bush or two, or three, or four, or more. Now is the time to order them, so you can plant them, and have blooms next year.
Find a container you wish to display your blooms.
Wait until the blooms are the shade you desire.
Early in the morning, while it is still cool in the garden, trim branches to desired length and arrange them in your container. No water.
Let dry in the container. Done.

I have tried many ways to ~~persecute and torture~~ dry hydrangeas.

I've

hung them upside down in a closet,

coated them in silica,

put glycerin in the vase water,

left them on the tree outside.

But, the method above has been the best, and easiest way to preserve them.

Here are some sites from which we have ordered our hydrangeas:

Jung Seed

Park Seed Company