Thursday, August 16, 2012

Dried Hydrangeas

I LOVE hydrangeas... I love them fresh when they first bloom and are brilliantly colorful and I like them dried with softer colors.


My neighbor has 3 glorious hydrangea shrubs that produce the most gorgeous blooms. Here's a bouquet from a few months ago.

Hydrangea blooms don't just shrivel up an fall off the plant like many other flowers in the garden do. They fade to a soft color on the shrub...the purple/blue flowers fade to a soft green and some retain a soft blue.

 If you let fresh bright blooms dry out in a vase with a little water in them, they don't turn out as well. These hydrangeas were dried as fresh blooms.

Some petals are a little crinkled up. I still love them, though.

If you want a better result, then leave them on the shrub until the blooms fade. Once they've faded, cut a bunch and put them in a vase with a little water.

They will continue to dry out slowly with a little water in the vase.

I discovered accidentally how to turn some of the blooms gold.



After cutting a some faded blooms from one of the shrubs, I put them in a little pitcher with some water and them covered it with a cloche.

I noticed at the end of the day that some of the petals had turned a lovely shade of gold.

The cloche held in moisture and created a beautiful result.
I am blessed to have such a wonderful neighbor who shares her lovely hydrangeas with me. 


Pam


joining:


14 comments:

  1. Pam, I love the look of dried hydrangeas. Yours are so pretty. I can't wait to add some to my decor for fall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are so pretty, Pam. I love the cloche! I have some dried ones that I've had so long they turned yellow naturally!! I think I have some in every room!

    XO,
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  3. So funny my next post going up soon has the same title. So fun having these big beautiful blooms to use.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just read Kim's post..I thought it was some dried hydrangea party! I love hydrangeas dried or otherwise. I usually use my hydrangeas after they've turned pink for fall/winter decor.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is so amazing to me how they change colors. They're all gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. love your hydrangeas-you certainly are luck to have a generous neighbour =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh Pam I am full of jealousy right now, lol!! Those are all just gorgeous and the colors so vivid. I LOVE all the different colors. My mother has a few so I got some from her. I bought a plant last year, then it got frozen this spring. I bought the Vanilla Strawberry plants this summer, and they were already blooming so the blooms turned brown and did not last long. Hopefully next year I will have my own. Love yours!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. They look beautiful Pam! What a sweet neighbor :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very nice Pam! I'm drying some right now. They were getting papery and I put a string around them and hung them upside down. They seem to be drying nicely. You are right about not cutting them early....they do need to get to that papery stage where they are starting to shift color a tad. Some of my hydrangeas didn't bloom this year... I've never had that happen! Darn!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love hydrangea, and yours look so pretty drying and changing colors! Wish I had a neighbor with beautiful flowers to share! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your hydrangia bouquets are just wonderful! I love your tip about putting them under a cloche to make them turn gold!!! Hugs, Penny

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful!!! I love hydrangeas and even decorated my Christmas tree with dried blooms. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pam, thanks for some new ideas on how to dry hydrangeas. Your neighbor is so kind and your bouquets look lovely. Hugs, Ginger

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love your hydrangeas...mine have "fried" on the shrub due to this awful heat...I am going out this week to see how many I can rescue...Yes, you have a great neighbor!! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete

Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by! If you are not on blogger, leave me your email or some other way of getting in touch with you in the comment. That way I can reply to your question or comment.