Return of the living dead: How dried flowers made a comeback – Stuff.co.nz

From Zombie flicks to handlebar moustaches, miniskirts to macram pot plant holders, and winklepicker shoes to paisley ties, every fashion trend eventually makes a comeback.

Its just that some trends, such as hanging dried flowers from your rafters or embalming your wedding bouquet, take much longer than others to witness a resurrection.

It has been over a decade since I first predicted a popular revival for dried flowers. I was wrong then, and in 2011, when I gave them a hurry-up in NZ Gardeners special edition, Homegrown Flowers, and again in 2015, when I wrote in my Sunday Star-Times column that it was definitelytime to give botanical taxidermy another go.

In a case of better late than never,my prediction has now come true,as anyone on Instagram can attest.

READ MORE:* This florist's hacks will help you create lovely, long-lasting arrangements* Why dried flowers are back* The best plants to use for a pink garden

Search for #driedflowers and morethan half a million photos of driedflowers and foliage will pop up.

These, however, are not the driedflowers of old, which had all the lifeslowly sucked out of them in trays ofkitty litter or tins of silica gel, so thatthey remained as life-like as possible.

Thankfully, preserved perfection isno longer the ideal. These days, driedflower arrangers tend to celebratetheir subjects lack of uniformity,embracing the beauty of wrinkledleaves, crooked stems and age-spottedpetals that have shrivelled up likecrumpled crepe paper.

In the coastal Wellington suburb ofMiramar, florist Annwyn Tobins weeshop, Floriade, is famous for its driedflower room (one customer describedit as a dried flower fairy cave).

Annwyn, an Australian landscapearchitect, began her floristry businesstwo years ago but when I asked herhow long she has loved dried flowers,she told me all my life.

I grew up in a house with a hugegarden in Sydneys inner-west. ForMum and me, our idea of fun was hanging out at a garden centre thengoing home to plant whatever we hadbought. I made my own potpourriand dried flowers from our garden.

Im passionate about everythingbotanical, adds Annwyn, but unlikelandscape design, where you deal withplans and wait for plants to grow,working with flowers has a wonderfulinstantaneous nature to it.

Her design process now begins, notwith a site visit or brief, but with thematerial she sources from the flowermarkets, growers, the local coastlineor fellow gardeners.

Friends tidyingup their gardens might offer a carloadof hydrangeas otherwise destined forthe compost heap, or shell forage forwild bunny tails (Lagurus ovatus) onthe sea shore, or salvage the skirts ofold fern fronds from her own garden.

I dont like waste, not just from anecological perspective but because itsnot economic for a floristry business.

"If something doesnt sell when fresh,Ill transfer it to the dried flower roomat Floriade so I can reuse or repurposeit in a different way, she says.

Ever since I was a child, Ive likedto make things and to keep them,she adds. I suppose Im a botanicalhoarder. Im always collecting upbranches and offcuts that otherswould probably send off to the tip.

No two dried bouquets are thesame.

Sometimes Im in the moodto make something delicate, soft andairy like a cloud, with limonium andbabys breath, and other times Illcreate something robust and chunkywith proteas or lotus pods.

When the Duke andDuchess of Sussex now betterknown as Archies Mum and Dad visited New Zealand on their RoyalTour, Annwyn was commissioned tocreate some of the official floralarrangements at their functionsupporting youth mental health atthe Maranui Caf in Lyall Bay.

I did a large dried arrangementin a recycled olive oil tin, referencingthe coastal landscape with thingslike native toetoe, leucospermum,craspedia and wattle.

And when American rapper Eminencame to town for his concert in2019, his dressing room and otherentourage-only backstage areas wasadorned with fresh flowers mixedwith dried toetoe and copper beechbranches. (Interestingly, Eminemsmanagement team discoveredAnnwyns work on Instagram.)

BETTER OFF DEAD

When I asked Annwyn to list someof her favourite species for drying, herlist was as long as it was wide-ranging.

She namechecked a few Aussiecompatriots, such as waratahs andbanksias, as well as dainty Englishladies (Alchemilla mollis), tropical lotus pods, dried native ponga frondsand golden sheaths of wheat.

Delicate favourites to give bouquetsan ethereal, everlasting femininityinclude astilbe, dainty gypsophila, Queen Annes lace and so-calledsea lavender, which is actually a typeof statice. Sea lavender (Limoniumlatifolium) has drought-tolerant greenfoliage topped with billowing headsof small, ever-so-pale-blue flowers that lend it the appearance of silvermist. It must have free drainage andsuits a rockery situation in a hot, dryspot, though do keep it wateredduring its first season. Limoniumis available from parvaplants.co.nz,owairakaseeds.co.nz and bmn.co.nz.

Papery-petalled strawflowersor everlasting daisies (Helichrysumbracteatum) dry beautifully andretain their vibrant colours, thoughthe stems tend to weaken as theyshrivel, so larger blooms often needwiring for the vase. But short or evenstemless strawflowers can still be hotglue-gunned to wreaths and othercraft projects, or used as decorationsfor cakes, so simply deadhead thoseto dry in a single layer on an old soilsieve or fine mesh stapled over a box.

Blue delpiniums and larkspursboth hold their colour well duringthe drying process.

The prickly pom-poms of perennialglobe thistles (Echinops ritro) andspiky sea holly (Eryngium planum)both retain their eerie colour, dryingto shades of steely-blue, while thehalf-hardy safflower (Carthamustinctorius) has tangerine thistle topsthat are prized as cut flowers eitherfresh or dried. Egmont Seeds sellOrange Grenade, which is easy toraise from seed in spring or summer.

Craspedia globosa, aka billy buttons,has cute yellow bobbles that canbe incorporated, fresh or dried, intofloral arrangements. Source fromEgmont Seeds.

Bachelors buttons (Gomphrenaglobosa), which come in white andpink and have clover-like buds onshortish stems, are also charming,and make natty buttonholes.

For white or green bobbles, seek outthe button bush, Berzelia albiflora(previously known as brunia), whichhas needle-like foliage on slenderstems. Pick it in tight bud. Note thatthis South African shrub has a fairlytemperamental nature; its ofteneasier just to buy bunches fromflorists to take home and dry than totry to grow it yourself. With smallerbobbles, Berzelia lanuginosa is thespitting image of the Australian riceflower, Ozothamnus diosmifolius,which Ive found far easier to keepalive. Prune it hard(ish) to encouragelonger stems as nipping awayat it produces short, stubby growththat isnt much use for picking.

Good luck with love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) in either its traditional blood red or pale greenalternative. Its spectacular dried but,again, easier to buy than grow.

Plant celosias, both the brain-likecockscombs and the fluffy argenteaforms (I planted the latter in a bedwith colourful Rainbow Lightschard over summer).

Dry the seedheads of ornamentalgrasses such as miscanthus, sea oats(Chasmanthium latifolium) and nativetoetoe (our indigenous cortaderiasare known as austroderias).

HUNG OUT TO DRY

Not all flowers dry well overblownblooms will drop their petals andanything too fleshy or green will rot, but theres nothing to be lost bytrying. Keep in mind that anythingthat quickly wilts in a vase (such ascottage annuals in spring) or has alot of sap (like bulbs) wont dry well.

JASON DORDAY/Stuff

DIY: How to make a flower vase sleeve

Its best to cut flowers for dryingwhen most of their buds are on thecusp of opening. Do this on a warmday as soon as the morning dew hasdried off. When harvesting seedpods,wait till after theyve shed their seeds.

Hang largeflowers, such as proteasand delphiniums, individually todry. Slender-stemmed and smallersubjects can be hung in bunches.

Always tie the stems together withrubber bands, rather than string ortwine, before you hang them to dry.

The stems will shrink as they dryand even tightly tied bunches canloosen and fall apart and if they hitthefloor from a height, theyll break.

To retain the best colour, hangflowers upside down in an airy,warm location out of direct sunlight.Condensation is the enemy of driedflowers; keep them away fromwindows. The rafters of a gardenshed or garage are ideal, or geta freestanding coat rack.

MY DEN OF ANTIQUITY

In Hunua, the deep blue shepherdshut in our vegetable garden doublesas a damson-and-dried- flower den.

Its where I house my collection ofplum-themed crockery alongsidean upside-down selection of lastsummersnest floral moments.

Mop-headed hydrangeas, opiumpoppy seedheads, delphiniums,larkspurs and statice in all shades bar white (which in my experience driesto an insipid pale brown) hang froma recycled offcut of steel reinforcing mesh. I painted the mesh the samepale blue as the interior beforehooking it to the curving ceiling.

When the flowers arefirst hungin summer, lying on the bed belowis enough to induce a hayfever attack, but by the end of autumnthat fusty haybarn smell has fadedand I can finally stop vacuumingfallen seeds off the bedspread!

My dried flower choices are fairlyexperimental. Achillea in particularwas disappointing and just madea mess. But having successfully drieda bunch of store-bought ornamentalallium flowers a few years ago,I figured Id have a go at drying someof the gone-to-seed leeks from myvege patch. It worked; their blobby,ball-shaped blooms look groovy.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Buy and dry straight away,is Annwyns advice for getting thebest results from storeboughtflowers.

Mix and match exotic fresh flowerswith homegrown foliage, prunedbranches and seedpods. Seedpods that dry well include opium poppies,love-in-a-mist, many grasses, grainssuch as barley and wheat, andornamental corn cobs such as MiniBlack and Strawberry popcorn.

If you have grown your ownflowersto dry, make sure you clear the stemsof as much foliage as possible beforeyou hang them, as this will turnmouldy or rot. Buy flexible rubber rose strippers (the metal ones canbruise the stems, advises Annwyn)from craft orfloristry supply storessuch as oceans floral.co.nz.

Roses and peonies can be driedin bud, or open, but theres an artto it. Annwyn pops hers in the oven, set to the lowest heat. Red, purpleand dark pink hold their colour best.

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Return of the living dead: How dried flowers made a comeback - Stuff.co.nz