How To Dry Your Roses Perfectly So They Will Last Forever
By admin | September 26, 2008
The idea of a rose is timeless. The flower symbolizes all manner of pleasant things, from love, beauty, to youth. For millions of people from around the world have clipped roses and displayed them in their homes, and enjoyed them for their aroma and color. The idea of roses is timeless, yes, but they are not. You can, with a little effort, work to make them last forever by drying them, however. Once you know how to do it, you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t before, it’s so simple.
Why dry roses? Because fresh roses inevitably must die, and, if not dried, will be lost irrevocably. Drying roses maintains their beauty. With a little patience and less expense you can preserve exquisitely dried roses that look just as marvelous in vases as fresh ones do. And, you’ll be able to cherish them for a much longer time.
There two most widely used ways to dry roses are with air and with sand. Air drying is the easier of the two and requires only a good set of pruning sheers, a strip of wire, a clothes hanger and a dark place to hang the blooms to dry. First cut the stem off of the rose, as close to the roses head you can manage. Now you need to poke the wire into the rose head. The wire should be about 7 inches long. Then take the end of the wire and wrap it around the hanger so that the rose is hanging upside down.
Repeat this process until you have as many roses as you want or the hanger is full. Then, hang the hanger in the dry, dark spot and wait for the roses to dry. This will take somewhere around two to three weeks. Air drying requires little more than patience and some spare space, but you will be pleased with the results.
Sand drying is a bit more difficult, but works a bit better as well. For this method you need to cut the rose when it is at its prime, and then trim all but about an inch from the stem. Once you have done this, you need to take a piece of wire and stick it through the stem into the rose’s head. Then, take the rose and stick it into a box full of sand that is deep enough for the rose to stand up in. The sand must be white. Once the rose is set on the sand, very gently begin to cover the rose itself with sand. If you like, you can place multiple rose heads in a single box.
The goal is to use the sand to both maintain the shape of the rose and to draw out its moisture. Once every rose is well covered, take the box to an area suitable for drying and let it sit until they are all dry. When they are you can empty out the sand. Be careful! It is very easy to shatter a dried rose while emptying the sand! Compared to air drying, this is more difficult, but the results are even more impressive.
Other than air and sand drying, there is wax or desiccant drying. To dry roses in this manner is bit more complicated. Or you can simply place a rose between the pages of a book and wait for it to dry. However you manage to dry your roses, you’ll be producing wonderful, useful dried flowers, which are perfect as gifts, for home decorating, artwork, and many other things. Use your imagination and start preserving roses’ beauty!
Also as you start drying roses, don’t be discouraged if your first attempts are not perfect. Like any other art form, the drying of roses can take a bit of practice. Keep at it, and reap the rewards.
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as freshcut flowers at http://www.freshcutflowersdelivered.com
Tags: flower garden, flowers, growing flowers, rose gardenGuide To Growing Annuals
By admin | July 4, 2008
Annuals are beautiful flowers that grace almost every garden. Depending on your zone, they will last only the season and die off in winter. Sometimes called bedding plants they are relatively inexpensive and loved for their bright flowers which bloom all summer.
Annuals start and end their life cycle in one growing season. Typically, you would purchase them in spring and plant them after threat of frost has passed (although some hardy varieties may survive a frost). Some popular annuals include pansies, impatiens, petunias, marigolds and begonias.
You can buy annuals for your garden and most garden centers and even the big home centers like Lowes and Home Depot. Annuals are sold in different packages - some come in large pots but many come in tiny little individual packages like an ice cube tray with about 6 plants per pack. You can buy as many packs as you need to fill in your area, but be sure to read the instructions on the tag as to how far apart to plant so you know how many to get.
Planting them depends on the particular variety that you have but most annuals like a sunny spot with well drained soil. Annuals need warm soil and stable temperatures so you want to wait until it is well into spring and you know the ground is warmed up and it won’t be getting too cold.
One good way to figure out where you want to place the plants is to place them in different spots and configurations while still in their containers. Once you have found the perfect arrangement, you’re ready to plant!
It’s a good idea to moisten the soil before you start planting. Then dig the holes deep enough so that the base of the plant stem will be even with the top of the dirt (all the roots will be under the ground just like when it was in the pot). Carefully remove the annual from it’s original container, shake some of the dirt loose from the roots and place in the hole. Then put the dirt back around the plant, pat gently and water thoroughly. You might want to add some organic mulch and liquid fertilizer.
As your annuals begin growing and producing flowers you’ll want to be sure to water them every day - not too much though, just enough to soak the ground. Also, get a good fertilizer specifically for flowers and use it as directed. Inspect your flowers for pests or disease and remove dead flowers, leaves and branches regularly. This will prevent fungi from growing which can hurt your plants. Look for signs of wilting and yellowed leaves and adjust your care accordingly.
Planting annuals in your garden can give you variety of plants and color year after year. It will allow you to experiment with different plants until you find the combination perfect for your garden.
Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.backyard-garden-and-patio.com where you can get more articles on annuals and gardening.
Tags: annuals, flower garden, flowers, garden, gardening, landscaping, PlantsJune Gardening Tips
By admin | July 2, 2008
These are just a few gardening tips for you to consider here in late June. Many people seem to think that just because all the plants have been put into their places for the summer and your perennials are blooming, or past bloom, there is no more work to be done. The garden is full of multi-colored flowers, so there must be little or nothing to do. Right? No, there is always work that may be done.
Watering alone when the weather is very hot and dry is important work. The chief thing to remember is never to give water until it is needed, and then to water thoroughly. A mere sprinkling of water with a water can to plants that are thirsty and needing a good drink is worse than useless. When you water a plant, you’ve got to get the water down to the roots which is how the plant takes up the water. If you just sprinkle the surface of the soil with a little water, you will only encourage the roots to remain near the surface and they will suffer from the heat of the sun. What you want to do is to make the roots go as deep as possible in search of moisture. Therefore, you need to give enough water to penetrate the soil to a sufficient depth. One really good watering when it is needed is better than half a dozen little sprinklings. Having the roots grow down deep also gets them down to where the nutrients are that the plants need to grow.
Mulch can be added around your plants to help preserve water. Not only will this conserve moisture, it will add to the nutrients in the soil as the mulch breaks down and keeps the roots cooler, too. You are using organic mulch, aren’t you? For more information on mulch, see our article about composting.
Perhaps upi don’t need to water much this month, if you are fortunate enough to live where there is a lot of spring rainfall but as the summer advances more water will probably be needed. All the same you must research and know which plants require plenty of moisture and which do not need as much. Such plants as snapdragons and geraniums like to be fairly dry while hollyhocks and pansies among other things, like more moisture. Look up how much moisture your plants need if you are not sure.
Another tip for the flower garden has to do with getting more flowers. It may be that you want to keep a plant from flowering for awhile so as to make the display of flowers of flowers last longer. You can do this with many plants by merely pinching out the growths tips. Doing so can have another effect beside slowing the flowering. It will make the plant bushier and thicker. When the flowers do come, there will be many more of them. Some of the plants that may be treated in this manner are the snapdragon and blue cornflowers.
One last gardening tip for your late June garden. In the fall, you might want to put in a rock garden. The weather will certainly be nicer then when it’s not so hot as it is becoming now. See our other articles for more information on creating rock gardens. To enable you to have something to put in it when it is ready, you might want to consider sowing some seeds now in some pots with ideal rock garden plants. There is more information under the gardening tips articles section at our website.
© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson.
To find more articles for Flower Garden Lovers, visit our informative website, http://flowergardenlovers.com
Tags: flower garden, gardening tips, June, rock garden