Cutting and drying hydrangeas
Interested in having hydrangeas year-round to embellish your home?
Follow these 5 simple steps for better vase life:
- Mature hydrangeas have a longer vase life but early blooms have lots of charm as they are whiter and fluffier.
- Cut your hydrangea stems at an acute angle, removing all foliage at the bottom.
- Be sure to provide ample water immediately. If faded after picking, let them stand in a hot water bucket for 10 minutes.
- The more the merrier. Use a kenzan (Japanese pin frog) or wet floral moss for a lovelier stand-out effect in a large vase. Note that floral moss may dry faster and not provide enough water to stem tips.
- Do not hesitate to mix and match cut hydrangeas with other flowers. My panicle hydrangeas are superb with dahlias in late Summer.
Follow these 7 simple steps for drying:
- Wait for the bracts – which give colour to the plant (what you take as petals) – to be fully open to at least two thirds of the length of the inflorescences. By then, depending on your variety, the blooms may have become pinkish to purple to dark blue.
- Cut your hydrangea stems at an acute angle, removing ALL foliage along the stems.
- Be sure to provide ample water immediately. If faded after picking, let them stand in a hot water bucket for 10 minutes.
- Do not overflow the container where you will keep your stems. Add about one half less water than if you wanted to keep them as cut flowers.
- Do not squeeze the blooms too tight to avoid breaking the floral bracts when handling eventually the dried stems. The best would be to arrange them as you’ll want them to be, for instance in a bucket inserted in a basket or in a crock.
- Let water evaporate slowly until the panicles are dried and there is no more water. It can take about 2 weeks.
- I do not use silica gel and I would recommend it only for individual stems you want to dry flat.
4 Comments
Celine this is beautiful! I love your new blog and new name – congratulations! 💛
Thank you so much Barbara!
Hi Celine…I’m one of your instagram followers. Love your new blog and loving these tips! Question: what does inflorescences refer to? Also, will this method work with store bought hydrangeas? Can’t wait to read more of your posts!
Hi Lissa!
So happy to see you here too!
An inflorescence is the complete flower head of the hydrangea including the stem, stalk, bracts, and flowers. We usually cut the whole inflorescence to do an arrangement. Some species of hydrangeas are flat (we call them corymbs), others are conical (we call them panicles).
As for your second question, just know that store-bought hydrangeas are conditioned. They are usually treated with a conditioner and kept in cold storage until delivery. I think it should be feasible, but I have never done it.