The Secret to Impeccably Dried Hydrangeas

Timing. Yes, the secret is ‘when’ you cut your hydrangea blooms. Sounds easy enough, right? It is easy; however, it may take some experimentation and it’s fun to experiment. Now that you know the secret to impeccably dried hydrangeas, let’s back up and go through the drying steps.

I remember the first time I saw a bouquet of dried hydrangeas. The bouquet was on my mother’s dining room table and I remember thinking, how pretty. My goal was to recreate that lovely bouquet. So, for the past two years, I have been drying hydrangeas from my garden. Lots of experimentation with both failure and success.

Timing

There is a lot of information on the internet about how to dry hydrangeas. However, the key is timing. You need to have patience and wait until the hydrangea blooms are just past their prime or when a change takes place. This timing will be different depending upon the variety of hydrangea you are growing.  So, experiment. Pay close attention to your plants. When the blooms are just starting to look and feel papery, cut a stem. A week later, cut another stem. Do this for four weeks in a row. If your hydrangea plant has lots of blooms, cut multiple stems each time.

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Cutting

First, bring a bucket or pitcher filled with water when you go out to cut your hydrangea. Look for branches where you can cut a stem 12-18 inches long. Better to have a long stem that can be cut later than a stem that is too short. After the stem is cut, strip all leaves from the stem and place it in the bucket with water.

The main variety of hydrangea that I use for drying is ‘Little Lime’ Panicle Hydrangea. It is a dwarf form of the popular Limelight Hydrangea. The attractive green summer flowers turn pink in late summer and into fall. For my first experiment, I cut the flowers when they were a lovely shade of green. Unfortunately, this did not work, and the flowers just drooped. The flowers still had too much moisture and were not ready for drying. In addition, I missed an important cue from the plant. Little Lime Hydrangea turns color from lime to pink. The key was waiting for this transformation to take place before attempting to dry.

Drying

There are different methods of drying hydrangeas. I use the water method because the blooms retain their color for a longer period, it’s easy, and you can showcase the blooms while drying. First, fill a container with 2-3 inches of water. Next, place the cut stems in the water. If you are drying multiple stems, make sure that each stem has space and the blooms are not touching each other. This will allow air to circulate freely around the blooms thus facilitating drying. Place your container in a location away from drafts and direct sunlight for two to three weeks.

You will notice that the water in your container is taken up by the stems rather quickly. Within two to four days the water has usually been absorbed. This method eases the blooms into drying without shocking them. Don’t be tempted to add more water after the initial water has been taken up. If the blooms don’t look right, it simply means that timing was wrong. Try again.

During the drying process, you may notice some shedding from the blooms. This could be an indication that the bloom was cut too soon.

Examining

After two weeks, examine your blooms. Have the flower petals remained intact or have they shriveled? If some remained intact and others shriveled, then it was just a bit too early for that stem to be cut. Try again. With experimentation, you will learn the best time for cutting your hydrangea stems and understand the secret to impeccably dried hydrangeas.

In the picture below, there are three hydrangeas that were picked at the same time. The blue-colored hydrangea is a Mophead Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) and the lime-colored hydrangea is a Little Limelight (Hydrangea paniculata). The hydrangeas on the right and left dried nicely. However, the blue Mophead hydrangea in the center didn’t. All of the blooms crumpled. This is an indication that the bloom was not ready to begin the drying process.

Displaying

Here are two arrangements that I created using the secret to impeccably dried hydrangeas.

Besides using dried hydrangeas, I also love fresh hydrangeas. You might be interested in my post on making Simple Saint Patrick’s Day Centerpiece with hydrangeas.