Fresh, dried, and silk flowers
Flowers add a lovely finishing touch to any home. They look wonderful on the hall table, sitting in the middle of a dining room table, or in front of a fireplace. Anywhere you have a place they will brighten a room and it does not matter if it is a formal bouquet, a country bunch or a single flower in a vase. I tend to follow what is in season, however I also love to have dried flowers and silk flowers for the times when fresh flowers are not as available.
Fresh flowers
Always use a clean vase, trim all the leaves that will be below the water line as well as the base of the stem. Your flowers will last longer if you cut the stem on a diagonal. Add fresh water to the vase with a teaspoon of sugar or cut flower food, this will prolong the life of your flowers. Change the water for fresh cut flowers every couple of days and trim the stem of each flower each time. This will prolong the life of the cut flowers and keep the water clean and fresh particularly if using a glass vase.
Dried flowers
To make your own dried flowers tie the stems at the base and hang upside down in a cool dark place, leave for a few weeks. Once dry they can be arranged as you wish. The added benefit with dried flowers is you can add a base of bicarb soda to a ceramic vase with essential oils mixed in. The aroma from the oils in the bicarb soda will work as a natural room diffuser. This is particulalry good for dried laevnder and pure essentai lavender oil. If you are feeling creative it is also fun to use food colouring to paint the petals.
Here is a list of flowers that dry well however, don’t be afraid to experiment
- Delphinium
- Marigolds
- Baby’s Breath
- Carnations
- Hydrangeas
- Roses
- Yarrow
- Lavender
Many leaves dry very well, but I do love eucalyptus as they hold their shape and colour so well. I spray paint eucalyptus leaves silver and gold at Christmas as they make a super addition to a door wreath and a lovely table display.
Silk flowers
Add silk flowers to fresh green leaves during winter as they give a boost of colour that may not always be available.
Hugs
Jen❤️
