Old and Withered

"I must have flowers, always, and always"

I feel the same as Claude Monet, but it gets expensive buying fresh flowers for every room each week.

Despite having lots of flowers in my garden,

I don't want to cut them because I love seeing them in the garden.

So, I have taken to drying flowers

once they begin to fade.

This has been my drying rack - hanging in the kitchen,

but I thought it was time to read read up on drying flowers 

via

and I found this website - Johnny's Selected Seeds where I discovered that I was doing one thing wrong.

Some of my roses retain their pretty color and these hydrangeas kept their pretty green,

but white roses don't stay white.

The article said to hang them upside down and I was doing that, but they need to be in a dark place to retain their color.

I need to buy some orange roses and hang them in the garage to compare the colors of these that were dried on my rack.

These Matsumoto Asters are on day two of no water in hopes that they will dry to this pretty color.

These Black Eyed Susans in the garden need to be snipped and hung in the garage before they wilt too much.

But, I like this rustic look - they will be fun in fall vignettes.

I'm a beginner at drying flowers, so any tips you have will be appreciated.

Meanwhile, I will simply enjoy decorating with dried flowers.

Like me, they are old and withered, but still have a lot to offer.