Dry like a very naughty pie
Hello m' fiery crusts,
With each growing season, it is fun to try something different at Long Mizzle. This year I thought I'd have a dabble with dry flowers. Technically all flowers can be dried, but some fare better than others. If hung upside down, nicely spaced in a warm, dimly lit place, they are more likely to retain their colour and shape.
As I am yet to erect a proper drying rack (or slung twig more like), some have started to festoon the living room druid tree - turned skeletor lamp shade.
Above: Statice (Limonium sinuatum)
The Statice was very easy to grow, with lovely sturdy fluted stems and indigo flowers. The mutant molluscs seemed to leave it alone. I wish the same could be said of the Strawflowers - many young plants succumbed to the munching marauders. Aren't the papery flowers wonderful though !?
In addition to the Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) and Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), which self seed freely here, I am hoping to also try drying some roses. If only I could bottle their heavenly smell!
Look what I found amongst a pile of books - pressed viola and pansy flowers from last winter!
With all these lovely real flowers, surely there's no real need for fake ones .... is there ???
Hello Lulu, Gorgeous blooms you have! Love those little pressed violas - wish I’d thought of that. What a collection of vases your Mam has. I love a bulb vase too. Can’t help with the fondue recipe unfortunately. We had one as a wedding present (standard) but I think I only ever used it to melt chocolate! xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you Claire :) She's not called 'Ol' Glass Eye Mumrah' for nout. The chocolate sounds like a good fall back plan. I remember being at a party full of University Academics that ended up sticking their heads in a chocolate fountain. That was a weird night. Lulu xXx
DeleteHello Mrs Floraly challenged - I do love your posts! Your dried viola and pansy are impressive, I think your papery flowers are wonderful to grow let alone dry. I read somewhere yonks ago that some people dry more chunky/juicy flowers (daffodils in the case I am thinking of) by submerging in washing powder and drying them for a few weeks in it. I haven' t tried it - you can guess the sitting tenant (2nd son) would probably put the whole lot in the washer. I suspect it works on things like roses though. Your poor mum - being forced into buying unwanted fake flowers - I think she should plonk them on the counter and say 'there's money in that - I'm donating it'!!! so there.
ReplyDeleteAhh thanks Betty! I press to impress ;) Interesting about the washing powder flower drying. I think Mumrah sneaks the flowers back into the donation bags, where no doubt they are thrust into another poor unsuspecting vase :0 Saying that, I've just come back from a local Chazza where an eccentric festival organiser was buying all sorts of crazy stage props. Lulu xXx
DeleteI always found those papery strawflowers a wonder but never tried to grow any. This year Dove Cottage's garden was particularly plagued by munching marauders, so they probably wouldn't have survived if I had :-(
ReplyDeleteThose pressed pansies and violas are gorgeous!
I dried the roses of my wedding bouquet and still have them somewhere wrapped in tissue. Not bad after 26 years, surely.
I often see those fondue sets in the chazzas, but we haven't succumbed to one (yet) although we've got some of those divided fondue plates. So, sorry, but no recipe from me either.
Have a lovely weekend Lulu! xxx
Hello Ann ! I remember having little straw hats decorated with straw flowers on my wall as a kid. They got ditched when the rock posters came along. How dare the munching marauders plague Dove Cottage! How lovely to still have your wedding flowers. Very impressive after 26 years. Lulu xXx
Deletep.s. I have never had a fondue and never even eaten anything fondue - so am interested to see if you do give it a whirl so I can experience it through cyberspace.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any fondue memories... I will be sure to share Betty .... x
DeleteSorry veggie whimp hee - so not really into fondues!
ReplyDeleteI've been sorting out and getting our hyacinth bulbs ready too - their scent is gorgeous !
Hello Kate, thanks for stopping by, fondue or not.
DeleteSpotted your hyacinth vase. We have roots already!
Lulu xXx
Ahh the fondue we melt fudge in ours and dip sponge fingers into it, bad for you but heavenly!! Mine is an anime one which the kids won totally cute!! You need to put a bit of cooking cream in to stop it from burning.
ReplyDeleteSadly we have had a few typhoons so many of my plants have taken a battering which is a shame. I love flowers I bought some iris’s cheap and they look fab. I don’t know if you can dry them.
Getting ready for Halloween as we are big Halloween fans we don’t do Xmas over here neither do the Japanese Uber big on New Year though. Which I love. Sending love and hugs. Project garden has stalled due to the typhoons never mind. Maybe in winter lol !! Love and hugs . Need your email then we can proper chat!! Allie
Ohh, that sound heavenly Allie jane! There's plenty of fudge in these Cornish parts, so I'll be sure to give that a go. Thank you for the tip! Sorry to hear of the typhoon garden battering. I too am getting very excited about Halloween. Toffee apples, pumpkins, spooky movies...acceptable witching levels... all good stuff. I am going to sort a way out of sharing my email safely via blogville (watch this space). Take care m' luverly, Lulu xXx
Deletefirst things first - a good fondue even for vegan folks is a pot of hot broth (veggie broth for the veg - beef for the other) - then you can dunk any small cutted veggie that does not need long cooking into the veggie broth pot for minutes.... or for the meat lovers small, thin cuts of beef into the other pot. veggies can be dunked into the beef broth too of cause - in the vegan pot NOT :-D
ReplyDeletethe straw flowers and "beach lilac"/statice give me childhood memories!! dry bouqets of this were all the rage in the end of 70´s (at least where i lived) - every good livingroom or even nice kitchen had to have them - in the kitchen often with a braid of onions.......
well done growing them at long mizzle!
most beautiful sunsets and all fingers crossed for the hyacinths!!
much love! xxxx
MEAT in the vegan pot not..... commented pre-coffee ;-D
Deletexx
Hello Beate, thank you for the hot fondue broth tip! I could try that with some garden veggies & feel really healthy and smug with myself. I love seeing a braid of onions with cornflowers plaited in to them. One year I had so many onions, I braided them and gave them away to family and neighbours. Only a small amount of tiny onions this year, but I could still give it a go :0 Lulu xXx
DeleteYou just took me back years as I grew statice to dry about thirty years ago. They kept their colour for years. I fancy a fondue set too and will be interested to see the recipes that people leave you... As for gossip. We car camped last night. It was utterly brilliant and we are planning car camping road trip next year. ... how flat is your drive :-)
ReplyDeleteHey Cherie, we don't have a drive BUT we do have one 'cosy', dulux' outhouse (playhouse) that you can't lie down in, but is a snatch of a bargain at just £2 per night :) It comes with the added insulation of cats sleeping on the top of it, and a courtesy wakeup call of footballs and tennis balls being kicked into it xXx
DeleteDear Lulu
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that flower bikini will ever catch on! I love the strawflowers - Mum used to have some in a vase, I remember. Those pressed flowers are just beautiful and they have kept their colours so well. What are you going to do with them?
My compost sieving has gone really well, though my shoulders and arms ache a bit. Potting on a new salvia and some small hydrangeas may be on the cards this weekend, making the most of the weather.
Happy gardening!
Best wishes
Ellie
Hello Ellie, that's a shame as I was thinking about wearing the flower bikini on the school run. I might try & turn the pressed pansies into bookmarks = Chrimbo pressies sorted! I am very impressed with your masterchef like sieving of compost. Good end product AND a good workout too. Thank you and happy gardening :) Lulu xXx
DeleteHello Lulu, thank you for your enjoyable post. We have a very old Bible handed down over the years. For some reason I picked up the heavy book, a few days back, and it opened on a page full of dried flowers - they must have been there for many years as they were falling to bits. It got me wondering who would have put them there and when - another mystery to ponder! A link to a grand-grand mother or father perhaps.
ReplyDeleteLove your sunrise photos. Have a wonderful week.
Oooh, that's a good mystery Mike. I wonder what type of flowers they were? That reminds me, I found some treasure in a the pages of a book once. I shall have to share it on a future post! Hope you've had a good week. I'm heading over shortly to your blog.... Lulu xXx
DeleteI am, as ever, most impressed by your enterprise, Lulu! The flowers look fabulous. I have a very old fondue set, too, which I haven't used since the '70s. Pretty sure you could just google fondue recipes? Not as interesting as a proper book of course... XX
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue :) I reckon it must be time to dust off that '70s fondue set and give it another whirl. Google! ....Google! I am after age old, best kept secret recipes from someone's Great Aunt Gladys here ;) Lulu xXx
DeleteThe sunrise pictures are glorious. And I'm sorry but I don't have any gossip at the moment :)
ReplyDeleteThat's ok Jules, I'll let you off ;) Thanks m' loverly xXx
DeleteHello, Loulou! I can't belive it's almost hyacinth time again.
ReplyDeleteI've made some crazy festival clothing from fake flowers over the years, there's a photo of me at Glasto somewhere in a bra I'd customised with them, not too disimilar to your bikini! I've also sewn them around the hem of dresses and shoulder straps.
I love your pressed violas, they're so pretty.
Whatever you do with your fondue set I insist you dress like Margot (The Good Life) while you're eating it! xxx
Yeaaaaaahhh Vix !!! :) :) :) I suspected you must have donned a fake flower bra at some festival point!!! Oh I will dress like Margot from The Good Life. She wore some rather fab headscarves. Lulu xXx
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