Drying Hydrangea Blooms

We love our hydrangeas, especially when they are in bloom. I'm beginning to think that if I don't quit collecting new cultivars, I'll soon run out of room for the rest of our plants. Since hydrangea blooms don't last forever, we like to bring some of the blooms indoors and use the dried hydrangea blooms in arrangements throughout the house. In the winter they remind us of how beautiful they were during the summer season. Technically, you can just bring the blooms in after they have already dried on the plant, but what you usually end up with is a big mess with petals that shrivel up to nothing worth viewing. Or you can cut and pick the blooms when they are just beginning to dry on the plant and bring them indoors to dry in a vase filled with a few inches of water. They will usually hold their color better this way. To get the best colors from your blooms, pick when they are just starting to dry and use a silica gel to dry them the rest of the way. Make sure that the blooms don't sit in the sunlight. Your hydrangea blooms will do just fine drying in a corner somewhere.








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