Many a gardener would like to dry a few of their sunflowers in order to enjoy the blossoms in winter too. There are several methods of drying flower heads, leaves, and petals. Sunflower Preservation Tips.

The seeds can also be shaken out of the flowers and dried in the sun

Drying the sunflower heads

Most commonly, the whole flower heads of the sunflower are dried. This is either for the purpose of harvesting grain for birds or domestic animals, or for assembling bouquets of dried flowers for the winter.

Cut off flower heads that have just opened and are not too large. Make sure the stems are long enough for you to tie the heads together.

Wrap twine around every three flowers. Then hang the flower heads upside down to dry.

The place for drying must be airy and as dry as possible. Direct sun is not good, nor should the place be too warm. Suitable places are:

  • attics
  • Warm cellars
  • Dry garages
  • boiler room

The drying process takes several weeks

The larger the flower head, the longer it will take to fully dry.

Check the heads regularly for rot and mold. Infested flowers should be discarded.

Preserve only the petals

To preserve just the petals, pluck the golden yellow leaves from a fully bloomed head. Take only undamaged ray florets.

Lay the petals one at a time on blotting paper or paper towels and spread another layer of paper over them. You can put up to three layers on top of each other. Kitchen paper is suitable as the top layer.

Then weigh down the flowers with books or other smooth, heavy objects. The drying of the sunflower leaves works in exactly the same way.

Unpack carefully after drying

It takes a few days for all of the moisture to be squeezed out of the buds. After that, remove the layers of blotting paper and carefully place the dried buds in a bowl.

The dried petals are very suitable for decorating banquet tables or for handicrafts.

tips and tricks

If you want to dry sunflowers to harvest seeds for the birds in the garden in winter, just leave the flowers where they are. So that the seeds are not plastered beforehand, wrap the flowers in permeable fabrics. Cloth diapers, for example, are ideal.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden