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Globe amaranth hangs in neat bundles under the barn's roof.
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A basket of fresh flowers greets visitors at the old barn's entrance letting them know what's in bloom each day.
Certain Success
Plan next year's garden around flowers that dry well. The choices include annuals, perennials, and even a few roadside finds
that make good filler.
The drying technique is easy and requires minimal space or materials. "Cut your flowers when they're in full bloom," Don recommends. "You want to pick them on a dry day, after 10 a.m. so the blossoms aren't holding excess moisture."
Remove foliage from the stems, and gather the flowers loosely. Fasten them with a rubber band, and then hang them upside-down out of direct sunlight. "We dry ours in a well-ventilated barn, but a guestroom is also an ideal place, particularly if it's air-conditioned," Don says. Humidity and excessive heat are not kind to drying blooms. "Air-conditioning draws the moisture out of the blossoms slowly. A hot attic dries flowers too quickly. Slow drying is much better," he says.
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