There are some particular methods of preserving flowers, buds or leaves: drying, pressing and preserving with glycerin.The flowers drying process consist of eliminate the water from all the flower or plant cells.

• So you can naturally dry the full-blown flowers, leaves or buds, by making small bouquets (from 3-5 stems, because the many they are, the higher risk of mould) which have to be tied with the head downwards on a pendent wire. The secrets is to put the flowers to dry in a shady, but well ventilated space, with a 20-30 degrees temperature, which accelerates the drying, so that the flowers will maintain better the original color. The stems of the dried flowers become usually fragile and could change their shape. To avoid that, you can stick in the stem thin wire.
This procedure lasts 3-4 weeks.

• You can make dried flower easier and faster, by warm air-drying (maximum 70 degrees). So it will take you 1-2 days to preserve the flowers.

• To obtain beautiful dried flowers, we recommend you an old practice, using sand with 0,2-0,4 mm. Take a carton box or even a window box in which put sand up to a half. Then carefully dispose the flowers that want to dry and totally cover them with a thin sand coating. Put the box in a room with lowest humidity and let it there for a couple of days, till the petals of flowers are rigid. That’s the moment when you have to take out the dried flowers and put them in a vase.

• There is another method of drying the flowers, with silica gel, not very cheap. This purchased material is blue when is dried and becomes light pink when has absorbed the water from the flowers. Also you can reuse it after. The procedure is similar to previous one, just replace the sand with silica gel. It’s a must the box to be metallic and to seal it for maximum effect, because the silica gel absorbs the moisture. This special material will absorb the water from the flowers cells in about 1 week.

• A cheaper material than silica gel is the borax. You can use it combined with thin sand instead of silica gel, but the result is not as fast. Examples of flowers that preserve well using this drying method are the flowers with fine petals as orchids, anemones, roses and peonies too.

If you want to obtain a charming perfume for your house as the potpourris, put in practice the following tip. Introduce very perfumed roses petals in a caped box and sprinkle all over some granular salt and alcohol then close the container. Open it after 10 minutes and your house will smell like a flowered garden.

Another method of preserving the flowers is the pressing, a very known and used practice and also easier and at hand for the persons who want to keep the flowers as a souvenir and a good memory. The flowers are carefully disposed between several sheets (newsprint or blotting-paper) over which have to be put loads to press well the flowers. During the pressing process you have to change the paper, once in a day at the beginning, then rarely. It’s last about 2 weeks. The violets, pansies, poppies, anemones etc dry perfectly in this manner.

The preserving with glycerin is a practice in case of the branches with thick leaves, shrubs, evergreen plants, such as beech, Hortensia, oak, Codiaeum etc. The most beautiful leaves prepared with glycerin are oak and maple leaves, because of them precious red and gold tones. Use 2 parts of water at 1 part of glycerin. Boil the water and add the glycerin then leave the acquired solution to cool. Bob the leaves into the solution, take them out and leave it drying. The ligneous stems are split at the base about 5 cm or crushed then put in the glycerin-water mixture with 10-15 cm from the stems. Finally, remove them into a cool place for 1-2 days or even 1-2 weeks. The vegetal material so prepared represents a splendid natural decoration during winter.

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