Drying and Preserving Valentine Roses

Home and Family Ezine

Drying and Preserving Valentine Roses

Roses are a popular flower for giving at any time of the
year but none more so than on Valentines Day for which
the Red Rose has become an expression of love.

The Rose, in all it's shapes and sizes, is well worth the
trouble of drying although the flowers do tend to shrivel
a little and the colour tends to turn darker especially
with the true red roses.

To preserve your roses try one of the following methods.

Air Drying Roses

The best results are obtained when all the petals of the
bud can be seen.

Pick roses only on a dry day after any dew has evaporated.
Roses with firm buds that are just about to open are are
best for air drying, To air dry hang the roses in a dark,
dry, cool place with good ventilation. The buds will open
up over a few days the the whole process takes couple of
weeks.

When dry a little hair lacquer sprayed on will protect the
rose and make it last longer.

Preserving Roses

This can be done using a desiccant such as silica gel.
alum, sand or borax. Place your desiccant into a bowl
making sure that the desiccant is entirely dry. Remove
the stem of the rose and push a short length of florist
wire through the centre of the the rose and replace the
stem.

Push the wire stem into the bowl of desiccant and carefully
spoon the desiccant over the rose. Seal the container and
leave to dry out. Silica takes about 48 hours, but alum
and borax take about 2 weeks and sand can take up to about
4 weeks.

Your desiccant can be used again by carefully drying out
in an oven. When cooled it should be ready to use again.

Dried and preserved roses are also nice to use when making
pot pourri as they nearly always retain their scent. Add
extra scent with a drop or two of rose oil into the pot
pourri mix then displayed in open bowls of petals with
similar colouring or in or use in sachets mixes for clothes
drawers or the airing cupboard.

Copyright 2005 J Black

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