How To Preserve Flowers

Flowers make us feel good. They help us celebrate special event sand communicate emotions by saying thank you, get well, I'm sorry and I love you. Then there is the special joy of receiving flowers. Whether it's red rose from the local florist or a fistful of dandelions from your daughter. Flowers, especially the intention behind them, so much.
Unfortunately, though, flowers wilt. Do you ever delight to receive beautiful flowers only to feel a little depressed as you watch them fade? Preserving flowers allows you to have beautiful, full bouquets well into the winter months. Drying flowers is an easy project that will let you keep your house colorful, without the hassle of changing water and throwing out dead flowers. While you can not bring cut flowers back into your life, here are some tips for keeping them looking fresh longer.

Hanging:

The easiest way to preserve flowers is to hang them. Bunch the flowers up around the base of the stems. Hang them upside down in the dark, warm and cool room for one to three weeks If you're drying several bouquets of flowers, place a fan in the room to circulate the air properly.

Glycerin:

A fantastic way to preserve flowers is to use glycerin. The flowers absorb the glycerin, replacing its water content with it. This keeps your flowers supple and bright. Simply place the stems of fresh flower in the mixture of two parts in the lukewarm water to one part glycerin. Let the flowers to sit in the mixture for two to three weeks. If you notice that the flowers begin to wilt after you take them out of the mixture, hang the flower upside down, so that the mixture reaches wilted parts.

Natural alternatives:

Add one part lemon-lime soda to three parts water. Then to each part of this solution, add 1/4 teaspoon bleach. Thereafter add 1/4 teaspoon bleach after each 4 days of use.
To 1-quart water add 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon bleach.

Drying your flowers:

Using silica gel for drying flowers is a slightly more damaging process when it comes to preserving flowers. However, silica gel can help you better maintain a bouquet's size and color. Silica is a sand like substance you can purchase at a local craft store. It simply removes water from flower because it has water absorbing property.

Pressing flowers:

Pressing flowers using books is the easiest way to preserve flowers. To start, take your flower or flowers between two pieces of paper. Then, close the paper and flowers between the pages of books. When pressing multiple flowers, make sure to space them out so they are not touching. Choose a book enough to close completely over the flowers. 

Store your flowers properly after preserving them:

After you preserve your flowers, consider how you want to store them. A frame or shadow box can help keep pressed or dried flowers from being damaged. It can also help prevent decay and is a good option if you want to display your flowers.