Preserving Roses
Five Tips for Preserving Roses
The practice of preserving roses is something that has been done for many years. Often, when people receive roses as a gift from some special, they hate to throw the petals out so they choose to preserve them. At that point, the rose petals could be sealed and stored as a momentum, used as potpourri, or used to create a beautiful flower arrange, such as a door wreath. Of course, you could also purchase roses or grow your own if you like.
In addition to rose petals being preserved, as mentioned above, whole roses are also preserved for a variety of reasons. As you will discover, to be successful with preserving roses, specific steps need to be followed. Otherwise, the process would fail and the petals would lose all color and fragrance. The tips provided will make the process of preserving roses easier.
Choosing Roses – The first tip is to choose the best roses. This involves choosing roses once they have bloomed and all morning dew is dry but two days prior to the blooms opening completely. Of course, you would inspect the roses, making sure there are no bruising, insect bites, defects, or other type of damage. Additionally, choose roses that have not been sprayed with chemicals such as pesticides and insecticides. Then, lighter colored roses are best, to include orange, yellow, pink, and salmon in that dark red, mauve, and purple roses tend to turn black.
Air Drying – The next step for preserving roses is to take the ones you chose, remove all the lower leaves, and with florist wire, bind four to five stems together while making sure the blooms are not touching. With this, the flowers would dry evenly. Use an open paper clip, bend it in the shape of an “S”, and slip one end under the florist wire so the roses can be hung upside down on a coat hanger in a dark, dry closet. Typically, this process of air drying takes six to eight days. The benefit is that the fragrance would not change.
Moisture Transfer – Another drying method when preserving roses is by using an absorbent to draw the moisture out, thereby, drying the petals. The type of absorbent you choose could be borax, cornmeal, silica, and sand. Once the stems are removed, the roses would be placed in a container and the absorbent of choice sprinkled carefully on top. The roses would then be sealed in an air-tight container and in about five days, the petals would be dry.
Freeze Drying – You could also freeze dry the petals when preserving roses. For this method, you would need to have the roses processed professionally, which is expensive and very time-consuming.
Coating – The last of the drying methods associated with processing roses is with coating, which means the roses would be dipped into hot paraffin wax. The downfall of coating is that the roses are preserved only for a short amount of time. However, if you would be preserving roses that need to remain natural looking, this is a great solution.