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Incorporating dried hydrangeas is one of my favorite ways to incorporate natural elements into my home decor. When hydrangeas start to dry on the bush they turn pretty, dusty colors that add a little more dimension to their already beautiful blooms. There are endless ways to use these preserved hydrangea springs around the house but let me tell you how I prefer to preserve mine and how I like to use them!
I have a few hydrangea bushes and a tree form hydrangea, all of which are limelight hydrangea paniculata. They bloom lime green to white in spring. They are a panicle hydrangea which means they have cone shaped flower groupings. The leaves are much smaller as they require at least 4 hours of bright sunlight, these particular hydrangeas don’t need huge leaves to catch up every drop of sunlight like the big blue shade-loving hydrangeas.
As these limelight hydrangeas begin to dry on the bush they start to turn back to their original lime green color and then a deep purple creeps in around the edges. Once they begin to develop this coloring I go in and snip the branches off to finish the drying process removed from the bush.
My process
I cut my hydrangeas back in the fall to keep them a certain size. I will sometimes wait to do a mass clipping and dry them all at once with the exception of a few drying branches that I’ve already clipped earlier in the season. Once I clip the branch from the bush I trim the stem of the panicle to the desired length. I like to have a few different sizes so that I can use them in different ways. I like to have a group of approximately 16” stems, 10” stems and 5” stems, this gives me a good range for different decor purposes. Next I defoliate the stems so that no leaves are left attached, only stems and the panicle of flowers. Next, I set them flowers up in boxes, empty nursery pots, baskets etc. You can certainly use vases for this but you want to make sure you do not put any water in the vases. This will cause the hydrangeas to turn brown and their pretty color will not be preserved. I leave the drying hydrangea on my covered porch for a few days before I bring it in to decorate with. It’s that easy!
As I had mentioned before there is really no end to the decor possibilities with dried hydrangea. They are great in empty vases placed about the house. I tuck them into fall and Christmas garland and wreaths, I’ve even put them in my Christmas tree. They add such a pretty low maintenance, natural element to any room. Consider what botanicals you can dry and bring in this season to make your home festive! Happy decorating,
