my favorite to dry are larkspur, so easy just hang and dry.

Roses (for the rosebuds), lavender, ferns, violets, violas, pansies, verbena, lantana (I separate the clusters of these two into individual flowers), cranesbill geraniums, dianthus; just about any flat flower, since I don't make wreaths or arrangements.

Judi, I'm growing the same as you except I also grow globe thistle, sea holly, flax, love lies bleeding, xeranthemum, golden thistle (sometimes called yellow centaura) blackerry lilies, liatris, coral bells, bells of Ireland, acrolinium, and my very favorite ammobium. Also, a grass (I've got to find out the name of it) where the thin leaves curl up when cut. I have been starting the flowers inside each year cause I can't always find them in the nursery. I haven't had much luck with cupid's dart or carthamus. In the wild I gather tansy, goldenrod, cattails, and whatever else I can find. I'm happy we have this post. I had requested to see if there was interest a few months ago, but seems as though it had been covered by the craft forum. I like this better. Good luck & happy drying!

I guess I'd be redundant if I repeated what most every one else's is growing.....so suffice to say: I'm growin all that (cept flax, love-lies-bleeding & Bells of Ireland). In addition: cockscomb, sweet annie, perennial baby's breath, floss flower (rose & blue), lavenders, ornamental oregano, buddleia, catmint, calamintha, alchemilla (lady's mantle), monarda, sedum, astilbe, solidago, flowering almond, and delphineums.

Why do I feel like I left something out??? So many flowers......so little time!!! :)

gardenz

My list isn't all that versatile, except I'm growing more minature roses this year, they're great for small wreaths and crafts. I grow pansies and collect wild violets for pressing. I love my dianthus but have never had much luck pressing it. I saw it in previous posts, any special tips for getting it to lie flat?

how do you dry celosia?

I dry celosia by hanging upside down bunching 6 or 7 stems together with rubber band. A lot depends on the timing as to holding up and retaining color but it works beautifully.

Also, I just looked up calamentha and Taylor's Guide lists it as "savory." Is it a shrub and what does the pod resemble when dried.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned statice yet -- or did I just miss it? We grow most of the annual colors (although we're cutting back on some of the peach/sunset blends) plus "German statice" (Gonolimon tartaricum) and sea lavender. Other annuals we grow are gomphrena, helichrysum, helipterum, amaranthus, xeranthemum, Lonas annua -- which is a great substitute for tansy -- feverfew, Emilia flammenea, ammobium -- also a favorite -- and three annual salvias: Blue Bedder, Marble Arch and Tango. I've tried larkspur early and late, indoors and out, direct-sown and peat pellets and have yet to have much success.

Out most adventuresome perennials are artichokes and cardoons (really prickly). Our most unusual are sanguisorbas -- various species of giant burnets which are tricky to dry, although we're getting the hang of it now. We've had success with various filipendulas and thalictrums, chives, eryngiums, oreganos, flax, hops, artemisias, blackberry lilies, roses (whole flowers, buds, petals, hips), achillea, alchemilla, siberian iris and Iris foetidissima for pods, Fibigia clypeatea, which is a kind of cress that makes interesting pods, hollyhocks (one of our favorites -- we do about half "black" hollyhocks and the rest a mixture of mainly pastel colors), bee balm, Rudbeckia maxima (a giant plant with long-stalked, cone-shaped seed heads), coral bells, salvias, lots of veronicas (from alpine types to Sunny Border Blue), veronicastrum, or culver's root, cephalaria (the flowers don't dry well, but the dried stems are interesting), mulleins (again, for the stem shape, not the flowers).

We got some great stems from some crocosmia last year and are trying more this year. We also had luck last year drying some freesia that a florist couldn't get rid of. I ordered some freesia corms this year and they're about to flower even though they're rarely grown outdoors in our area -- we'll see.

We grow a lot of ornamental grasses and also collect things in the "wild" areas of our property -- grape vines, rose hips and goldenrod stems with galls.

Is yarrow best dries by hanging upside down? I have a BIG yarrow plant that I'd love to save the blooms from.
Thanks,
DEE

Nobody has mentioned nicandra. It gets quite tall and returns every year all over the place but it forms a Chinese lantern type pod which I have sprayed gold for Christmas, orange for Halloween etc. Folks buy it in bunches at our craft fair.I purchased the seed from Nichols I believe.

has anybody dried and ornamental grasses.

I grow most of what has been mentioned. Also nigella and my favorite PEONIES! They have to be the number one. Close to that is Zinna. Then grasses, there are so many of them. Last one I didn't see mentioned is Lepidium. Bryan

I like to press my flowers. These are some of my favorites: blackberry blossoms, wild orchids, helleborus (after seed pods have opened & dropped seeds), wisteria, purple tops, iris, and any wild flower that I can get ahold of.

Ive seen rose campion used for drying. I tried cutting some for a vase, but the unopened buds never opened. Poppy seed pods can be used dried. Various dahlias should be nice too.
For cuttings I tired clarksia and godetia this spring and found color lasts 2 weeks in a vase. My godetia is succeeding the clarksia blooms and Im finding it nicer. Also hav some lissiathus plants I kept in pots, but my short variety may be best left alone.

This is a good thread-I'm always trying to find new things to dry. A few on my list that I didn't see listed above are broom corn, millet, & echinops, and asclepias "Silky Gold". I tried to grow Mountain Mint, but for some reason not a single plant survived. Last year, I found a wild liatris that had clusters of blooms on the sides of the stem, instead of a stalk.

This was our first year and we grew gomphrena QIS mix, celosia Bombay Mix, craspedia Drumstick, German statice and purple helicrysum.
We had very good success with all of the sisters-in-law receiving many bunches of dried flowers. One received too many according to a certain brother-in-law, "I can't see my tv".
I want to thank some of you here for helping me to choose the varieties and sources. Now we are making plans for next year and I want to double the number of varieties. So given the varieties that I listed above what should I try next year?
Again, thanks to all of you for this great resource. I am printing out this thread as I know the postings here are not archived forever.
G

You might want to try something narrow as a contrast to the shapes you have already. Blue salvia -- "Blue Bedder" or "Victoria" -- dries well and many people mistake it for lavender. There are also spikey veronicas, and although they're perennials they tend to bloom the first year, even from seed if you start early enough. They come in red, white and blue/purple. Larkspur would also be a change of pace. I finally got some to germinate by using peat pellets in a tray on the floor of a cold, dark basement, then monving them outside under a clear cover when germination began, sticking them in the ground as soon as it was workable and protecting them from the birds and rabbits with row cover until they were a foot tall.

Neil - do you dry veronica and liatris like just about everything else? Hanging upside down in a dry, dark area?
Have you dried drumstick alliums?
I'm curious!
Thanks,
Wendy z6ish OR

ps plant larkspur in the fall and see if it comes up (Sept/early Oct) or in May or via plugs! Pinch it when it is about 3" tall and you'll get more shoots!

Yes, veronicas and our occasional liatris get hung in the loft of our pole barn.

We do grow drumstick allium, too. It's most dramatic if you harvest it when the head is fully colored, then hang it. The individual flowers then open up as it dries -- as with chives, the stem takes a lot longer to dry than you'd think. The allium ends up looking like a burst of fireworks.

Thanks for the larkspur tips.

Neil - thanks! I didn't think about drying veronica...now I will and save those short stems for wreaths!! Yeah!!

I bunched up alliums and liatris last night and hung them to dry!
Thanks!
Wendy

If you'd like veronica-like flowers with really long stems, try veronicastrums. V. virginicum, culver's root, comes in white and a pale pinkish. V. sibiricum is normally blue. It's listed as Veronica siberica in Chiltern's.

Neil - I love veronicastrum fascination I think! I have about 150 I got from Paul Sansone - Here and Now Gardens in Gales Creek, OR. This is the second year form some of them and they're 6' tall! I love them...their kind of irridescent lavender/pink! So...they dry well too??? Yeah!
THANKS!
Wendy

I have: Celosia, Statice, Gomphrena, Nigella, yarrow (several colors) feverfew, achillea pearly everlasting, german statice, sea lavender, perennial gyp, lady's mantle, tansy, blackberry lilly, lavender, silver king artemesia, sea holly,globe thistle,astilbe,zinnias,chives, poppy (pods) rose campion (pods) pampas grass, oat,honesty, hops, oregano, amaranth,Victoria salvia,wild primrose (pods) milkweed Pods and solidago. I bundle them and hang them to dry in my small barn. I attached lattice on the underside of the loft and hang them from there. For the shorter stuff, I have an old wooden drying rack.