How to dry hydrangeas without losing their color and make a beautiful flower arrangement?
Keep the hydrangea blooms after pruning to create a magnificent bouquet of dried flowers, does that work for you? An essential flowering shrub in romantic gardens, the hydrangea offers beautiful flowers in soft shades all summer long. Want to make them last after the end of the beautiful season to decorate the living room? Here is a short overview how to dry hydrangeas without losing their color and make a beautiful floral interior decoration that will never fade!
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How to dry hydrangeas quickly without losing their color?
Do you want to create a floral arrangement from dried hydrangea flowers? This is possible by following one of a few easy techniques. One such technique is to hang the stems upside down and place them in the sun. You can also put the flowers between two sheets of absorbent paper, then pass your iron over them and leave to rest under a press for 24 hours. The downside of this method, however, is that the original color may fade. So, to dry hydrangeas without losing their color, we opt for silica.
How to dry flowers with silica? The ultimate trick to preserve their color
More delicate to set up and more expensive than drying in a vase, this new technique allows rapid results in 2-3 days and perfectly preserves the colors and the suppleness of the hydrangea flowers. To succeed, get about a kilo of silica that you should handle with gloves. Fill an airtight box with silica crystals, then gently immerse the hydrangea stems in it before closing. Leave it on for a few days and voila!
Also read: Winter Dried Flower Arrangement Ideas – Master the Art of Beautiful Floral Compositions
Other Drying Techniques to Try
To dry hydrangea flowers naturally, hang the stems upside down on a wire in a closet. Another very common and very easy method is vase drying. Put the flowering tops in it, add a little water and let it sit without renewing it. Similarly, you can replace the water with glycerin diluted in hot water. Glycerin will give your flowers a more flexible and less dry and brittle appearance.
Another effective, but slower, method is to leave them in a dark, well-ventilated place for a few weeks. Once the flowers are completely dry, spray 3-4 coats of hair spray over the entire surface of the blooms. Reapply every 3-7 days. Let the product dry for about 10 minutes between coats. An interesting is to dip the stems of your flowers for a few seconds in a saucepan filled with boiling water before letting them dry in a vase. Demo in the video below.
How to store cut hydrangea flowers?
Natural fall bouquet, potpourri, floral centerpiece, floral door wreath… Whatever decoration idea you choose to make with your dried hydrangea flowers, they will keep longer when they are regularly dusted. For this purpose, use a vacuum cleaner brush at minimum power. To limit dust, you can also spray a coat of hairspray on the flowers once they are dried.
DIY flower arrangement ideas with dried hydrangea flowers
After flowering in the garden, balcony or terrace, you can use hydrangea as an interior decoration. Here are some DIY ideas with dried hydrangea flowers.
To invite the new season into your home, there’s nothing like a pretty bouquet in warm tones that will easily find its place on the kitchen worktop, the living room sideboard or even the shelf in the bathroom. Feel free to mix dried hydrangea flowers with other dried greens. Take advantage of the colors of the red eucalyptus to bring out the flower of your hydrangeas. For a fall decoration, add a few dry leaves!
DIY Fall door wreath
Whether grown in a pot or in a bed in the garden, the hydrangea guarantees a most romantic atmosphere. So why not preserve its stunning blooms and decorate your front door with a beautiful dried flower wreath, just in time for fall 2022?
DIY aromatic potpourri
To flavor the interior, but also to preserve the hydrangea flowers, nothing is better than DIY potpourri with flowers from the garden. Once dried, combine them with dried rose or statice flowers and perfume it with a few drops of essential oils of your choice. Another decoration idea, place a candle in a vase and put potpourri all around to make a magnificent candle holder with natural scents. It will make a superb decoration for the bedside table.
An original centerpiece
When you have visitors, dare the natural table decoration! Take two plates, put a ball of dried hydrangea flowers on them and add a few small pieces of driftwood. Your fall table is ready!
