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My aunt told me to hang my eucalyptus upside down for 2 weeks...
So my aunt June came over last spring and saw me just sticking fresh eucalyptus straight into a vase. She laughed and said I had to hang it upside down in a dark closet for at least 2 weeks first or it would just rot. I thought she was being dramatic, but I tried it with one bunch and left the other in the vase. After about 10 days the vase batch started drooping and getting this weird musty smell, while the hung batch kept its color and shape perfectly. Now I hang everything - lavender, baby's breath, even those big hydrangea heads - and they last months instead of weeks. Has anyone else had a relative give them some old-school flower drying advice that actually worked out better than what you see online?
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bell.taylor19d ago
12 bunches of lavender I tried drying in a vase last summer all went musty and brown inside two weeks. My grandma told me the same thing about hanging them upside down in a dark spot and I argued with her for like ten minutes. Finally I tried her way with half of what I had left, and yeah those ones are still hanging in my kitchen looking good three months later. The vase ones got this gross damp smell and started dropping leaves everywhere. I used to think people were just being extra with the hanging and spacing stuff, but now I won't dry anything any other way. The dark really does something, I don't know the science but it works.
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elizabeth_gonzalez19d ago
Wait, is hanging flowers upside down in the dark really that different from just letting them sit in a vase? I mean, I've dried plenty of stuff by just sticking it in a corner of my kitchen and it turned out fine. Sure, some got a little droopy but not to the point where it was moldy or smelled bad. Maybe my house is just dry enough that it doesn't matter. And the whole "separate stems so they don't mold" thing seems like overkill unless you're packing them in tight. I've had bunches of lavender tied together with a rubber band for months and they never got moldy. I guess if you're trying to keep stuff perfect for a wedding or something it might matter, but for everyday drying it feels like people get way too serious about it.
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