Caroline's Tips For Preserving Flowers
For the past few months, flowers have been abundant - lilies, irises, roses and wild daisies, to name a few. In an attempt to preserve their beauty, I’ve been using our flower press books that come in three sizes and make pressing and drying flowers fun, easy and rewarding. I’m really enjoying the whole process, from picking and choosing to having them documented in this beautiful way to be enjoyed for years. Blooms are at their peak right now so I thought I’d share the process with you and just how easy it is to take nature and turn it into art.
The property around our farm explodes with flowers in the spring and early summer months and it's really exciting to see the succession of blooms unfolding each week. Many of the flowers are perennials like these lilies, and we have more than I can count in a variety of beautiful colors.
The first step in pressing flowers is to pick the right flowers at the right time. Flowers should be in full bloom or close to it, and try to avoid ones with dark spots. It's also helpful to pick flowers in the morning when any dew or water is gone. Make sure flowers are completely dry before pressing, as wet or damp flowers can become moldy. Some of my current favorites are these white echinacea, which come back year after year, and these pretty little wild daisies.
The flower press books come in three sizes – large, medium and a pocket size. Each one comes with sheets of corrugated card and sugar paper. Nuts and bolts are also included with a leaflet that explains how to assemble the press. Once you do a couple, it starts to come together quickly. I'm using the medium size here, and it gives me ample space to display a few smaller flowers or one larger flower. The larger press works well for taller stems, like irises and lilies.
Back in May, I picked an assortment of purple irises, bleeding hearts and yellow roses among others from around the garden and pressed them in the large size flower press. It takes a couple of months for them to fully press, so I just unpacked them the other day and they came out beautifully. It's a great way to document what you have in your garden, especially if you write on the paper the variety of the flower and the date it blooms.
The summer heat and humidity is upon us, so I'm trying to maximize the use of all the fresh blooms before they die off. Aside from pressing flowers, I've also been gathering up fresh bouquets and arranging them around the house... sometimes I forget to do this because I enjoy seeing them outside so much.
I recently added sage to our window boxes.. something simple that can handle the heat and they're edible and fragrant too.
We’ve been working on a bathroom remodel for a while (see here), and I’m very excited to say that the wallpaper is finally up! We waited a year for this custom, hand painted wallpaper from deGournay, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I guess I have a floral theme going here…Here is a sneak peak and can't wait to show you the whole bathroom once it's finished. Things happen slowly around here!
As we move from one season to the next, I love finding ways to preserve special moments, and pressing flowers is just one of many ways to do that. Here is a video of the flower pressing process from start to finish, so you can get a feel for how it all works.
