How to Dry Marigold Flowers
Marigold flowers are attractive annuals that many gardeners use as colorful borders and accents in a landscape. Instead of limiting the marigold beauty to only the summer, some gardeners enjoy drying the blooms for dried floral arrangements and other crafting projects. Drying marigold flowers is an easy process that will take only minutes to begin. Once the flowers are prepared, all you need to do is wait for the blooms to finish drying.
Trim the marigolds at the peak of bloom in the morning after any dew has dried. Cut the marigolds at the base of the stems just above the soil level.
Place four to six marigold stems together and secure them tightly with a rubber band. The stems will shrink as the marigolds dry, so it is important that the rubber band be tight around the stems so it will keep the stems secure as they get smaller.
- Marigold flowers are attractive annuals that many gardeners use as colorful borders and accents in a landscape.
Choose a drying location that is warm and has low humidity. The location must have good air circulation and should not have any direct sunlight. Screw a hook into the ceiling of this location.
Tie a 10-inch length of twine around the rubber band and use the twine to hang the bunch of marigolds upside down from the hook.
Refrain from disturbing or touching the marigolds while they hang to dry.
Wait for two to four weeks for the marigolds to dry completely. The marigolds are sufficiently dry when the stems shrink and the petals of the marigolds are dry to the touch.
- Choose a drying location that is warm and has low humidity.
- Tie a 10-inch length of twine around the rubber band and use the twine to hang the bunch of marigolds upside down from the hook.
Take the hanging marigolds down from the hooks and remove the rubber bands. Use the dried marigolds in dried floral arrangements or in wreaths and garlands.
Good Flowers To Plant With Marigolds
are an easy-to-care-for, colorful annual, often used for borders, containers and color massing. There are several ways to select plants that grow well with marigolds. Marigolds make a fine companion for any plant plagued by these pests, including tomatoes, corn, potatoes, beans, and hot-house and greenhouse plants. As the DePaul University explains it, in art theory, a complementary color is one that shares no color with its complement. Following this theory, yellow and orange marigolds “pop” beautifully alongside blue and purplish flowers like bachelor buttons, alliums, asters, anemones, bluebells, columbine, delphinium, hydrangea, iris, pansies, phlox, salvia, violets and veronica. Marigolds also do a nice job of covering the soil in a pot containing taller plants like dwarf trees. If planted when the spring bloomers begin dying back, marigolds help hide the dying plants and offer more green foliage to the garden.
- Take the hanging marigolds down from the hooks and remove the rubber bands.
- Marigolds also do a nice job of covering the soil in a pot containing taller plants like dwarf trees.
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Writer Bio
Kathryn Hatter is a veteran home-school educator, as well as an accomplished gardener, quilter, crocheter, cook, decorator and digital graphics creator. As a regular contributor to Natural News, many of Hatter's Internet publications focus on natural health and parenting. Hatter has also had publication on home improvement websites such as Redbeacon.
