Really superb discussion of what dries well. Very helpful. I have been away from the dried flowers for several years and am now inspired to experiment! Thank you for your excellent channel.
Another Great Video, Alexandra. (I had to watch it more than once as I do almost all of your videos). 👍🥰💗💕💜❤️💖😍 Take care and God Bless, Chris-Raleigh NC
This timing was terrific!😀 I’ve been gardening for about 20 years and have just grown my first cutting garden dedicated to flower drying. Thank-you for the wonderful and insightful interview! I’ll be selling my first dried florals at a pop-up shop next week! It’s been fun and rewarding to give it a whirl. It’s a long way from dried bouquets of the 1980’s ...so happy they are making a more modern comeback! Thanks so much...Keep up the good work😉
Sue is a natural! She is so informative whilst being relaxed and entertaining. I have no experience with drying flowers, but she makes me want to try! Alexandra, you have become my favorite thing about Saturday. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Thank you so much! Over the winter I will be switching to every other Saturday as there is less to film in the gardening world, but we'll be back to weekly when the world wakes up in spring!
Interesting chat, I'm thinking about growing for a farmers market next season, one thing I really NEVER thought about, being a farmer not gardener, I too will have a VERY hard time pulling things to add new blooms, I may have to start new beds for those.
This is an absolutely beautiful garden, and such a fresh use of the grassy field to create a meditation spot. The information on growing and drying flowers was so helpful. She's right about there not being much information about it in book form. Thank you☺️
Dear Alexandra... thank you for this informative video. A number of years ago (so long ago that I can't remember the year), I decided to dry some flowers. I used red roses, blue straw flowers, baby's breath and other plants that I can't recall, hanging them upside down to dry to be straight. In my collection of vases was a silverplate goblet rather large but purely decorative into which I secured florists foam (Oasis, dry of course) and then used a sturdy toothpick to pierce the foam before inserting the dried flowers which were by that time fragile. This arrangement was mostly dome form with some flower spikes and the baby's breath cloud like shape to disrupt the overall look. Years later all color had faded but the texture remains and this arrangement is on my night stand continuing to give me pleasure. Another flower that dries well is daffodil. I cut flowers in their prime... really hard because one wants to see them in situ.. and hung them upside down to dry. I had inherited a small Depression Era green glass vase from my Gran and used it for my arrangement. In this instance, I again made a dome shape cutting off any long stems and securing the bundle with elastic bands. Think wedding bouquet shape. Because the vase was glass, I wrapped the stems with a ribbon colored green and cream with a gold thread. Atop that I placed a dried dragonfly that I had found. Years later, the bouquet is still lovely. I hope that my experiences inspires others.
I love your channel and thank you for regularly featuring our sometimes stringy (Lottie) and other times tubby (this little Bub) and always always beautiful and loving companions. (ps: you yourself have one of the most pleasant gardens. not obviously "show offy" or loud. :)
Beautiful garden, and what a nice way to make some money. I just started becoming interested in dried flowers this year when I noticed how interesting dried coriander was once it went to seed...and then I accidentally dried some hydrangea when I forgot to water them. They retained much of their color, while the ones outdoors turned brown. Now I'm thinking about drying bunch of things to have arrangements around my house this winter.
@@TheMiddlesizedGarden Surprisingly good ones to try are Peonies and Buddleia, which both retain their fragrance well, and Sumach, which I personally wouldn't give garden room to, but my neighbour's encroaches somewhat!
There are floral sprays that can color the dried flowers which helps it from looking like a bunch of dead stalks. One brand used here in the US, is the Design Master brand.
Thanks! Helpful advice on how to control the shape of drying flowers. My gomphrena is fantastic this year, but it is still actively blooming and providing nectar for an assortment of skipper butterflies and bees so I may need to forgo drying it. 🌼🐝🦋
Hi there thanks for the video, I’ve tried to find country lane flowers on fb and I can’t find it.. I’ve a question or two for her regarding certain dried flowers, wondering if she’d help xx
Thank you so much for the inspiration, what a lovely video. Is there a concern about using larkspur as confetti, since it is extremely poisonous? How about Bracken Fern pollen, which is thought to be carcinogenic?
Interesting. I think people aren't worried about larkspur in the sense that throwing it as confetti means it lands on the ground so people wouldn't eat it, but a few petals could perhaps land in drinks, although probably not enough to cause a real problem. But I will ask Sue.
I live in Australia I started growing flowers this spring ..I have so many insects grubs attacking my flowers.. . What does everyone use to keep the bugs insects away..
As I'm in the UK, I'll have different bugs, but I know that here we are all experimenting with restoring the natural balance of predators - letting the bugs flourish so that their predators (usually birds and frogs) also build up their populations, and then the bugs are knocked back. It means tolerating a certain amount of bugs. The other approach is to mix up plantings, so not, for example, to have a whole row of roses so the bugs can hop easily from one plant to another but mixing the plants. But I appreciate that this advice may not be right for a different country.
It's a standard collection of meadow grasses, but without rye. Next year she will be adding yellow rattle to weaken the grasses and allow more wildflowers to emerge.
I think that some people are drying dahlias by flattening them - 'pressing them' flat between several sheets of paper and heavy weights, so the flowers come out flat but dried. But drying them in their original flower shape - I think the petals fall out too easily.