Something I get asked quite often is how my hydrangea manages to achieve multicoloured status. The above harvest is from one bush. So how do all those colours come into play?
How to harvest and dry amazing MULTICOLOURED HYDRANGEAS
Here is the bush in full summer bloom.
Trust me when I say I do NOTHING to enhance the soil. (I keep forgetting) But maybe that’s a good thing. A few hues of purple is how this one starts out. I don’t prune hard but only prune to shape the bush, then let nature take over.
While the purple is perfectly lovely, I hang in there until the end of the growing season and wait…
for the petals to turn slightly crunchy. Sunburnt if you will. The blooms fade, creating the most amazing tones, much like changing leaves on a tree. Fall is a beautiful thing.
Now instead of deep purple, you’re left with every hue imaginable. This is my favourite time to harvest hydrangeas.
By harvesting, I mean allowing them to dry in water. I just find a container (crate?) of choice, place water filled yogurt containers inside, then arrange.
When I dry them, I actually have intent to leave them in these containers. They tend to slightly wilt into that position which is perfect! The less you handle a drying hydrangea, the better because they are extremely fragile once dry.
Tip: if you wish to dry them for handing elsewhere later, just dry them more separated so you don’t crush one side of the petals or break them when they separate.
And the fun part? Finding a place for it all. I’m working on it… 🙂
This is last year’s hydrangea harvest from a different plant that achieved more pastel tones of pink and mint green. Gorgeous!
Check that post out HERE.
Do you dry your hydrangeas each year?
I love, love, love hydrangeas – they are gorgoes when in bloom, and they are also stunning when dried. Just like you, I don’t put anything in their soil, so the blue ones I planted have various shades of blue, purple and pink – absolutely gorgeous! I keep mine in a drying basket, a very flat wicker tray with a handle by Laura Ashley (it’s blush pink, just the perfect color). Maybe I’ll use them for som wreaths lateron. Love this post!
I have a bush and like you I do NOTHING to mine either. I like to have them fresh all summer and then like you I leave some in water to dry…I love how they change…:)
Beautiful! I love dried hydrangeas, but I especilly love the crate you have them in! 🙂
They are gorgeous!!
that bush is lovely. we must not have the right dirst for purple hydrangeas around here. all you see is blue, white/green and rusty colored ones. Even the pink/purple ones sold at the store change color once they’re in the ground! 🙁
Funny in that we mostly have purple flowers where I live in California! We treasure the blue ones… must be whatever is in the soil that determines the colors. I know that if we add iron to the soil here we get some blue ones…
Gorgeous! Love the crate and the model is… cute & fluffy. 🙂
Gorgeous ! Love hydrangeas!
The Hydrangea’s are beautiful totally love the Dairyland box made me think of when I was a kid and the milk man delivered the milk to the house.
Have a great day.
Denise
These are beautiful!! I have heavy clay ground and hydrangeas don’t do well. My ‘Limelight’ grows, but does not get thick and full like this so I don’t cut a lot!!
I love hydrangeas with all my heart! But I seem to only be able to grow roses. Not a bad thing but would love a full hydrangea in my yard.
Love your flowers we have 2 hydrangea’s in our front yard that are the blue/purple tone… Our uncle has a pink/maroon color to his with bigger blossoms. I love to swap with him for all the beautiful tones. Mine turn green to burgundy most of the time as the season progresses. I pretty much do like you do for drying purposes. They are a nice pop of color in the winter ehen no more blooms are available. Thanks for sharing.
I love hydrangeas too! I have a white one that starts to turn pink and white now and a blue one that turns purple, pink and green tones. I don’t do a thing to them, just water and pruning. I found an old Pepsi Cola crate and am now drying them out in it like you did.
You give me so much inspiration! I will try and post a pic of FB for all to see!
Gorgeous, gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! =)
My hydrangea is very slow growing because of all the clay, but I am hoping when I move next year to take it with me and see if it will survive and grow larger.
LOVE these hydrangeas! I also do nothing to my bush, and it just flourishes! The only bush that I have is an Annabelle. All of the blooms are white that dry to green. I would love to get a bush that bloomed some of these amazing colors! Life to the full, Melissa
Beautiful deep purple hydrangea! I have one, but it doesn’t get as purple as yours–thank you so much for sharing these lovely photos of it with us.
I have a purple hydrengea and find them harder to dry unless you wait until the end of summer as you described. I also have a limelight hydrengea which starts out with white blossoms that turn green as the growing season progresses and then get tinged with rose pink. You have to be patient and wait for the green and rose color, then I cut them, pull off most of the leaves except those right under the flower, bunch several together by the stems, tie them with string or wrap a rubber band around them and then hang them (blossom side hanging down) from hooks on my fireplace mantel. They dry nicely this way in about a week and then I can put them in a basket or container to display and get rid of the dusty ones from last summer.
I am SO JEALOUS! They’re beautiful! Hydrangeas are my favorite and this year out of my 5 plants I got 2 blooms!!!! We had a drought here in Southern Ontario and we suffered!
Oh Donna, I’m just greeeeeen with envy. I luuuuv Hydrangeas so much – I grew up with them, my Grandmother had them all over her yard. I found a species that is supposed to grow in AZ, but because of the cost, I had to start from the roots and a tiny twig. I planted it in the spring and it got 2 leaves on it the other day. Anyway, I love yours – they’re gorgeous and I’m saving this tutorial for next year {ha ha!} when I will get so many flowers, I won’t know what to do. Thanks for the tutorial!
Would you mind if I used the image of your hydrangeas as wallpaper for my iPad? This is a photo worth preserving and seeing each time I boot my iPad. Thanks!
These are beautiful, Donna! I wish I had hydrangeas growing…just gorgeous!
Oh your blooms are beautiful – I have heard to put a little glycerin in the water – this is to help them from becoming so crispy – do you know anything about this? Thanks Joan
This is probably silly but how long do you leave them in the water? how do you know when they are dry? very new to gardening.
Hey Cheryl! You just leave them in the water until they are completely dry, then dump out the water. You’ll know when it’s time. I’ve had water in the cups for MONTHS after only because I forgot about them. 🙂
I absolutely LOVE hydrangeas and this year the colors are all so different than they were last year. I don’t know if it is the soil or the dryer summer we had but they are amazing. You reminded me by your post to go bring them in. I hope it isn’t too late! Thanks for sharing.
Blessings,
Patti
I’ve never dryed hydrangeas before, but love the look. Do you just use the blooms for drying. When you place them in the water filled yogurt cups, do you place the bloom on the stem or just the bloom and do you just leave them there until dry (like when the water has evaporated??
Waiting to hear from you. Thanks!