MAKE IT LAST: HOW TO DRY, POT POURRI, OIL AND PRESS

Words by Jessica Peace

DRY SEASON

Best flowers for drying?

Statice, seaholly, asters, tulips, grasses, gypsophila, hydrangeas... We like to stuff in the big seed heads like honesty, poppies and teasel.

HOW TO...

Swing’em in the Airing Cupboard (or anywhere dark, dry and hot)

Swing your stems upside down, it’s easier if you tie them to a coat hanger first and find somewhere to hook it to. Ignore for about a fortnight then cherish forever.

OR

Shove’em in the Oven

Plonk your flowers with stems flat on a baking tray and whack them in the oven at a low temp (around 130°C if you can get down there). They could take up to three hours depending on how big your flower heads are but don’t assume, check every half hour (set an alarm, we’ve all forgotten).

Got you in the mood for drying? Treat yourself to a DRY WEDNESDAY with us.

OIL UP

Best buds for getting oily?

Rose, geranium, lavender - we’ll try anything smelly or edible.

HOW TO...

You need a kitchen and some patience for this. Grab a bunch of flower heads, some oil (jojoba traps in floral smells the best) and sterilised glass jars. Boil a pan of water then leave to cool a bit while you fill your jar with oil; then plonk your filled jar into the pan of hot water to warm the oil through. Mash up a cup full of rose petals then shove them in your jar and put a lid on it. Sit your jar on a sunny windowsill and resist! After a week or two sieve out your oil.

Get rubbing!

POSH LIKE YOU’RE NANNA POT POURRI

Best blooms for pot pourri?

Anything smelly really - we like to toss in herbs with calming scents like rosemary and sage. Experiment!

HOW TO...

Essentially you’re baking your flowers at 200°C for a couple of hours. Lob in loads of scented flower heads and mix it up with herbs, sliced citrus, cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods - whatever blows your hair back. You can rub your flowers with scented oil for extra smelling power before you whack them in.

SQUASH’EM

Best flowers for pressing?

Any that are flat already like pansies or ‘single’ flowered varieties that will squish easy.

HOW TO...

Just grab a fat book, line the pages with kitchen roll and slip in your flowers in. Pop a brick or something nice and heavy on top and resist for at least about three months. We like immortalising our flowers in clear frames.