Dried Flower Revival
It has been pouring with rain, thunder and lightning are coming and going at their own will and it’s cold! There is little flowering in the garden to be out picking – it is that time of the year that feels strange with summer flowers like cosmos trying to be cheerful yet bulbs like earlicheers are starting to flower along with hellebores. I was, however, out trying to pick while heavy rain struck and I had to shelter in my She Shed.
My She Shed was developed last year in what was our shed for hand rearing calves for school Ag Days. Over summer I was hanging a lot of flowers and foliage for drying but it is now too cold and open. Instead I have taken over our hot water cupboard which is full of roses hanging from my clothes drying rack; there is no room for drying clothes anymore!
This is the first year I’ve dried flowers. When they started to make a comeback the concept took me back to my younger days of dusty and very average looking displays. What is available now is so vastly different it is like night and day.
Some of our new Dried Flower arrangements - aren't they gorgeous!
At The Wild Rose we have dried and preserved flowers from Japan, China, Europe and Australia. Some of the preserved rose heads are of such a quality it’s hard to tell the difference between a living rose and a preserved one. These sit alongside locally grown flowers and foliage that are also dried.
I grew strawflowers over summer for the first time. They grew to be taller than me and flowered over so many months but finally had to make way for spring bulbs in my picking garden. The last of them I dried and it is hard to tell if the flower is fresh or dried which makes them such a versatile flower to grow.
I also grew bunny tails, however these grew to be about knee high to a grasshopper, albeit that there were a lot of “tails” on each plant. When my father rang to ask if I would like him to pick some while he was at the beach I was delighted. My mother wasn’t, she cursed the bunches of bunny tails drying at her house. I am even more delighted now that there is a worldwide shortage of bunny tails – can you believe it!
I know the dried flower revival will come to an end, but while it’s here I am totally embracing it. I love that you can be quirky and creative; at The Wild Rose we are putting dried flowers in terrariums and large egg cups and these are perfect for the not so perfect flowers.
In the fresh flower world it is all about stem length and being long and beautiful. In the real world and just like us, not all fit this mould. Dried flowers and their many uses is just the place for the non-perfect in the flower world, and for that I love them as that is exactly what I grow in my garden.