Gardening and Horticulture - flower drying

Im preparing to dry a dozen beautiful roses that my boyfriend got me and I was wondering if I should use silica gel or not?

Silicon gel is a great way to keep a cut flower, flowering for a long time.

If you want to dry it out, you need another approach.

I dried my wedding flowers by hanging them by the stems, upside down in my airing cupboard for a few days.

Th trick is not to let the flower fully bloom or you could loose some of the petals.

My wedding flowers are still looking good 10 years later!

Let us know how it goes....

Joyful,

Silica crystals are supposedly a great way to dry flowers (they are the same materials that come in those "Do Not Eat" drying packets in vitamins). These are granules, and are different from silicon. They are supposedly renewable too, by drying in the oven. I haven't used them myself, but I have a book on drying flowers and that's what they recommend for your roses. There will be directions on the container. The idea is that the silica granules support the individual petals of flowers that are susceptible to losing shape as they dry.

HouseDoctor - I'm sure we'd ALL like to know how silicon (I assume the goey sticky stuff) can be used to prolong the life of fresh flowers. I know I sure would. Could you tell us?

As silicon absorbs water, you can add silicon gel granules to water and cut flowers stay fresh for longer without the need to change the water.

It also works for container plants and hanging baskets too!