Hydrangea Heaven!

By now your hydrangeas should be in full bloom! Full bouquets of beautiful pink blue and purple hydrangeas have flooded my backyard but with fall sneaking around the corner, beautiful flowers tend to disappear faster than they bloom! But fear not! Dried hydrangeas can last forever and will keep you hopeful and ready for next summer! The big question is HOW? Soak em in boiling water? lock them in a hot car trunk? Hang them upside down in a dry attic? The answer to all these questions, plain and simple is... NO!
The art of hydrangea drying is not so much about HOW you dry them, its WHEN you pick them! If the plant has to much moisture in it trying to dry it in any way will result in brown wilted hydrangeas. I understand that it's ever so tempting to pick the flowers at the height of their color but freshly opened buds will never do well cut. The best option is waiting for the hydrangeas to dry a bit on the plant before cutting. Wait until the end of summer or early fall, by then the petals will begin to take on a vintage look and in some cases pick up shades of burgundy and pink. Unless stems are thin or weak there is no need to hang your flowers upside down at this point! Strip off all the leaves and arrange them in a vase (with or with-out water) and soon enough you'll have yourself a bouquet of dried hydrangeas!