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

The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8

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How to make Bamboo Garden Trellises (Cheap! Cheap!)

Our organic garden is growing nicely,

and we even had a salad (albeit, small)

of arugula and radish already.

We are trying to learn when to plant certain salad foods that will grow

and be ready to harvest at the same time as the other food that accompanies it.

We are doing that by planting a few seeds 
of each food each week, 
so that we can have fresh carrots, scallions, radishes, etc.,

when we want them.

Home gardening is an interesting learning process, 
that teaches us to fully rely on our Provider

for sun, rain, and the designed growth of each plant.

Our beans and tomatoes are getting tall.

They need trellises and some sort of support.

I stopped in our favorite store, Hobby Lobby,

and priced the iron trellises, 
since our garden is right outside our cafe', 

I wanted it to look pretty-ish, not chicken-wirey.

But, the least expensive trellis, with 50% off was $10.00.

NOT economical, I need 5 or 6 of them already.

Then, on a whim, I trekked inside Big Lots!

Here's what I found--on the left.

See the price?

See how many are in the bag?
The jute, from Lowe's, was only $2.00.

Big Lots also has the stakes in 6 foot lengths.

I may go back and get some of those, too.

A light went on inside my skull!
Revelation!
Epiphany!
Inspiration!


So, I did this.

Then this.

Then around a stake, and tucked in.

Then around the next stake, and tucked in.

Then around the next stake, and tucked in. 
And cut.
I made 8 of these.

Here are the beans, sad, lying on the soil.

And, after.
I think they are actually smiling.

I tied them to the trellis with more jute pieces.

Now the tomatoes.

In other areas of the garden beds, squash.

Carrots.

And radishes!

My, how far you've come!
How big you've grown!





I am yet again, partying with these chicks:


Chic on a Shoestring Budget -- Flaunt it Friday
Finding Fabulous -- Frugalicious Friday
My Romantic Home -- Show and Tell Friday
Fingerprints on the Fridge -- Feature Yourself Firday
Kojo Designs -- Friday Fun Finds
It's Fun To Craft -- Look at Me, I'm So Crafty!
It's a Hodgepodge Friday
Frugal & Fabulous Design -- Fab Friday

Bargain Blooms and Dirt Cheap Landscaping

In the Spring, at the end of the day, one should smell like dirt.

And I do.

I have been outside as much as I can enjoying this 

gorgeous South Carolina weather (not too hot, not too cold).

I thought you might like to see how a one-income,

no-debt, cheapskate household gets their plants for practically nothing.

Wanna know how?

We get up at 3 A.M., don coal miner's caps and prowl the cul-de-sac,

crouching in the grass and hiding in the shadows.

Then we dig the plants out of the neighbor's yard while they are sleeping.

Ingenius, no?

Well, okay, we don't do that, and you shouldn't either.


What we actually do is wait till plants and their paraphernalia
go on sale or buy stuff at yard sales.


We go to the back of the Lowe's Garden Department
and get out plants off the slightly overcooked or
somehow overlooked palettes.
We even buy plants at yard sales.


Top row: White Geraniums, 1.25 quart, $1.00 each
Middle row: Blue Wave Petunias, 1.25 quart, $1.00 each
Bottom row: Red Geraniums, Pint, $ .60 each

Sometimes, by the time we rescue a plant, 

it is no longer blooming (but will).

I am picky about the colors that go in our yard.

We only take in rejects that bloom yellow, red, white or blue.

How I tell what color it is, is by searching for the dead blooms

usually lying on a leaf or two.

Sometimes the tag will tell you, too,

but sometimes the tag shows the whole variety of colors that this plant comes in,

not the particular color you want.

If I cannot tell what color the flower is, I don't buy it.

Maybe you are not as persnickety picky as I am 

and it you love all the colors.

You'll get done shopping more quickly than I do.

We also buy plants that, even though they are annuals,

will survive our hot SC summers without a lot of attention.

Geraniums and Lobelia, in the basket below,

(Originally $19.99, I paid $5.00)

are good choices.

(In the upper right corner of the picture you can see dead leaves on a Mandevilla Vine that was adopted.
The dead portion was cut off and it thrives, and you'll see it further down in this post).

Impatiens are also good choices that love the shade and heat, and multiply like crazy.
(I paid full price for these-- $1.87 for a 6 pack of annuals).

Other plants in our yard--that can take the heat are Miniature Japanese Holly bushes
I got 8 of these for $2.00 each.

This is one of my favorite blooming vines in our yard, the Jackman Clematis.

Every year, it tells us when Spring is here.
One time price of around $8.00. So far, eight years of blooms.
($1.00 a year!)

Another garden joy is the Nikko Blue Hydrangea.
I got this as a birthday present, so it was free.
Another way to get cheap blooms is ask for plants for presents.

These Indian Hawthorn Shrubs (the middle one looks like a bite is taken out of it)
were $1.00 each a few years ago.
There are 6 altogether, lining the side of our house.
They were 8 feet tall last week, until I pruned them.
When I bought them they had been on life-support.

This hummingbird favorite, Black and Blue Salvia, is stunning and very hard to get rid of, 
so plant it where it has plenty of space.

We bought three small plants ($5.00 each) 3 years ago. 
We cut it back to the ground in the Fall.
Yet it grows to about 4 feet tall by 8 feet in diameter each year.

English Lavender.
Is there a prettier name for a flower?
This perennial smells heavenly, and makes a beautiful ground cover and bouquet.
I dry it and crush it and use it to scent drawers.
Miss S (my college girl) wants to cook/bake with it sometime before this summer is over.
I have it several places in the yard and got the plants for around $1.50 each, as I recall.

Stella D'Oro Day Lily.
Hearty, lively, beautiful.
These reproduce. Divide these to make more plants.

Threadleaf Coreopsis.
Wispy, whimsical and wild.

These were the BIGGEST bargain of all.
Instead of a fence, we spent $185.00 and
bought 24 of these Thuja Green Giant Trees in 2002.
They were two feet tall.
Miss A on the left and Miss S on the right on planting day.

These are now about 20 feet tall!

And of course, the least expensive way to have plants: seeds.

(Or is it the least expensive)?

Our organic veggie and herb gardens as of today.

These railing planters (with coconut liners included) were $3.00 on clearance at Wal-Mart last Fall.
I bought 4 of them.

I got a set of 5 of these faux clay pots at a yard sale for $5.00!!
The previously over-baked Mandevilla (minus the dead leaves) 
now lives in one of them.

So, these are just a few ideas from my own yard
on how to save money on making your yard come to life.


It's Spring.
Will you smell like dirt at the end of the day?


How do you save money on flowers and plants?

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