It’s a busy time for flower deliveries. With Mother’s Day just past and graduations and Memorial Day coming up, a lot of people still have bouquets on-hand. Most people just end up tossing their flowers once they start to wither, but that doesn’t have to be the case. There are many creative options when it comes to preserving these floral gifts.
One of the most common ways to preserve your wilting flowers is to spritz them with hairspray. The trick with this option is to not spray your flowers too much. You’ll want to make sure that you spray your flowers from a few inches away so that they aren’t soaked. Once you’ve coated your flowers in hairspray, you should hang them upside-down to dry out. Hang them near an entrance for a perfect greeting when you come home.
Another popular option for keeping your flowers around once they’ve met their life expectancy is to press them. Pressing flowers is a pretty simple process that involves a heavy book, parchment or waxed paper, and some time. Press your flowers while they’re at their most vibrant to preserve the color. All you need to do is press them between your paper and book for about a week. After a week has passed, check to see if they’re dried out. If not, you can leave them in your book for another week. The great thing about having your flowers pressed is that there are many innovative ways to display them once they’re dried. Once they’re all set and pressed, your flowers can be kept in a clear frame or made into bookmarks.You could even leave them in a book for sentimental reasons and surprise a loved one.
There’s also the choice of silica gel. Silica gel can be used in a more productive way than just sitting around in an old shoebox. This gel can be found online or at craft stores. All you have to do is fill an airtight container with silica gel, bury your flowers in it and let them sit for around a week. Once they’ve been immersed for a week, you can lighty remove the flowers and set them out any way you want.
The simplest way to preserve flowers is air-drying. All you have to do is flip your bouquet or bunch of flowers upside down somewhere in a relatively dark area. Let the flowers hang for a few weeks and they’ll be all set. After the flowers have been air-dried, you can decorate your house by scattering them around your tables or setting them in a clear, empty vase.
If you want to hold onto your bouquets a little longer, you have many options; these are just some of the most common techniques to help maintain them.
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