Drying Rose Petals for Popurri

19 years ago

HI EVERYONE!

My roses are just shy of full bloom.Each rose bush is huge and has hundreds of blooms on it. The thought of making popurri(not spelled right i know :(sorry)and giving as Christmas presents from my own rose bushes has always run through my mind this time of year. I was wondering if without sending me to another website or referring me to a book if you had some quick suggestions on accomplishing this. How best to dry them? I don't see myself buying the silica etc I was thinking more simple like can i just sit them out on a table and let them air dry? Will that work?? or maybe on a low temp in the oven?What Temp ? how long? How can i preserve the smell till Xmas??I'm thinking of making sachets to put them in.If i can preserve the red color some i will use lace any ideas to do this as simply and economically as possibe would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch SunriseFairy

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davidmark

19 years ago

Hello Sunrisefairy! First of all, it is spelled potpourri. What kind of roses do you grow? They have to be very fragrant while fresh to be able to have fragrance when they are dry. The best roses for fragrance when dried are the antique roses like damasks, centifolias, gallicas, albas, bourbons, mosses and portlands. (Visit GardenWeb's Antique Rose Forum to learn more about these roses.) The gallicas are very fragrant when dried, especially Rosa gallica officinalis (Apothecary's Rose) which actually is more fragrant dried than fresh. As far as color goes, all rose petals will lose and change their color when dried. They turn a more subtle hue, from black-red to flesh, from soft magenta to pink, from clove-brown to chamois. It is a lot of work to dry rose petals correctly. Ideally, you must harvest them in the morning, after they have first opened and the dew has evaporated. You then must gently pull the petals off and lay them singly on a drying screen, such as old window screens, where air can circulate all over and under them, out of direct sunlight. The amount of time it takes for the petals to become crispy-dry depends on how hot and humid your days are. But they must be crispy-dry like corn flakes or you'll risk molding. (You could dry them in a barely warm oven, but I would advise not to. It is easier and faster, but the roses will lose some of their fragrance from heating of their oils.) After completely dried, store them in tightly sealed glass jars in a dark place out of the sun or light. Properly dried and stored rose petals will retain their fragrance for a long time if not exposed to air. If you want to preserve their fragrance for years to come in a potpourri, I advise first dusting them while still moist with ground orris root, right befor placing the petals on the drying screens. Orris root is a fixative which will greatly extend the lifetime of the fragrance.

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Comments (6)

candlelady1994
16 years ago
My grandmother died last week and I have all these flowers from the funeral. I want to dry the rose petals so that I can keep them forever. My mother in law said all I have to do is peel off rose petals and leave them in a bowl on the counter. Is this true? I want to do this for the flowers my parents have from the funeral too and them to put it in a nice basket or bowl for them. I want to make sure I am doing this right before I use too many rose petals.
Thanks for your help.
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there are two ways to dry roses- as whole flowers (hang upside down, either in small bunches, or singly) or by spreading the petals thinly on a screen and leaving them in a dry, shady place...they're not very 'wet' petals, so they dry in a few days. marigolds and delphimiums also dry well this way. Orris root is the 'traditional' powder added to 'hold' the fragrance oils, good herb shops/health food stores carry it. normally, one just adds essential oils to the mix, and fluffs them around. you can also candy rose petals, and make a rose sugar syrup (Martha the Tyrant has a recipe, a good 'rennaisance' site should as well, I make mine by 'feel' cup of sugar, half cup of water, two cups of petals, simmer don't boil, strain into a jelly jar when the mix turns the color the petals used to be) that's not as good as the violet, but way easier to come by.
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Thought I would resurrect this just to see if anyone else is making progress on this problem. I've already had to toss one big basketful of rose petals this summer (the ones I started collecting before posting here.) I'm experimenting with freezing, but haven't thawed any yet to check the results. Every flower that comes into the house now goes straight to the kitchen sink for a thorough spraying. After the petals are dried I flash-freeze on a cookie sheet and store them in an air tight container in the freezer. The thermometer registers just below zero in there, so we'll see. Whatever this petal-eating critter is, it apparently prefers roses. I've got air-dried gromphrena, hydrangea, and gardenias from last year and the year before, stored in clear plastic bins, with no sign of damage. I'll have to choose my moment carefully for thawing these frozen petals to minimize the ambient humidity. It's always humid in MS to some degree, but we've had SO much rain this year - even with the a/c going full blast I get moisture on the top of the salt shaker. Just thought I'd check in. Anyone else experimenting? Nena
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Patty - that's good to hear about Kardinal Kolorscape! I've certainly been impressed with its vivid red blooms in its first year, and I'll have to pay more attention to its faded blooms after this. Joe - same goes for Golden Buddha. It's just now in its second year in my yard, but so far I've liked the blooms in every stage so far till it almost falls apart. Paradise is one of those mutable roses that can transform into something intriguing - particularly with that black edge it can get. I'm surprised yours opens a pale pink - mine is more hot pink in the heat and closer to mauve in the cooler weather. Perhaps the part sun makes a difference for mine. I was worried that I was enabling you folks for an unobtainable rose in Acropolis, since I got mine from Vintage several years ago, but fortunately Angel Gardens lists this one in their repertoire. They don't have every rose each year, so it might be worth an email to them if you're interested in them propagating this one. And yes, it is freakishly beautiful with those indescribably greeny-cream undersides, and even in my zone it wants to be 5-6' tall with lots of basals and blooms (remember that this is own root too...) Cynthia
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Kentucky - I have been trying to figure out how to make some raised beds- or raised pots for the front yard landscaping. I don't want the look of basic garden vegetable beds for around the front of the house though. I thought maybe I could dig 2 ft hole and put a 2 ft raised planter on top of it, that night work. I iam also thinking about making very big planters (they are ridiculously expensive to buy. I am not sure about the aestetic for my front landscaping, but after considering many materials and my craftsmanship capabilities I have a plan. I will just have to try it and see how it looks. It could sit above ground, part in ground or in ground. My design is 2"x2" wood frame cube (or taller) dark cedar stained (ECO friendly and plant safe). Side and bottom panels of 1" hardware cloth. Inner lining of natural burlap. It would sit on 8" concrete blocks (in ground) with the hole side up foradditional drainage. Inside bottom filled with river rocks then another lining of burlap to contain the soil and the plant and finally mulch on top, of course. It would have to be big enough to allow 3'x3' space for the roots to grow in the soil area. Again, the aestetic is the probelm (aside form all the hard work and digging). I think it wold look descent but odd. To build a retaining wall for the space under the front window of the house would not look right eiterh at the height I need it to be. I think the real solution is to pay for a backhoe to come in here and excavate the clay and then have new soil put in - way too expensive for me right now. I do have one narrow strip on the west side of the front yard that I am lining with concrete blocks to build up that soil area. I plan on very tall trellises lining that hill (all my land is hilly) and covering them with rose and jasmine vines as a privacy fence. The probelm is the area is part shade - never sunny and that is not goo for any of the plants I like. I bought the Charles Darrow Hybrid Musk for that location as it is reported by others to grow and bloom very well in shade. I also have some varieties of Jasmine that might do in that spot. I am also thinking of Camelias and Sky Pencil Holly. My Hollies are about 1ft tall now. It will be years before they grow big enough.
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feighner
16 years ago
Like the post above yours states, place the petals in a single layer or you run the risk of mold. Sorry to hear about your grandmother.
nic-nac
16 years ago
I agree completely with the above message about preparing potpourri. Through experimentation, however, i have found an efficient way to preserve the rose as a whole, if you are interrested in pressing it of course.

It is extremely difficult because roses retain so much moisture but with wax paper and a little hint, it can be done.
Before pressing the rose, gently and carefully slide your index finger and thumb down the center of the rose and gently pull out the center petals.
Trust me, you will not be able to see these small ones once the rose is pressed anyway.
By taking these petals out, you eliminate much of the moisture which will help the rose to preserve a lot better and you will be able to avoid the whole "mold factor".
This also allows you to completely flatten a rose, which cant be done without taking the center out because the rose is too thick, even when pressed.
So after taking a few small petals out of the center, placing it inbetween wax paper, then placing it in a phone book or any other large NON-GLOSSY book(to avoid retaining of moisture), wait 3-4 weeks before checking, and you will have a beautifully preserved and pressed rose.
yasminshi
16 years ago
Hello all,

I was just dropping by to learn about a few things, Great post davidmark and also nic-nac.

I don't really know to much on roses or how to dry them, but this is what I do. When I get a fresh bokay of roses I wait to dry them until they are almost brownish in color and droopy. Then I either take one rose at a time or the whole thing and hang it upside down as a whole. "Sometimes there are special one's you just wanna keep" I let them hang for about 2-3, weeks till crispy. I then snip off the long stem and place the flower in a jar. I got creative one day and had a Rose scented candle and i put my roses in with the remains of the candle! Oh boy does it smell good!!

David mark thank you for the helpful tip of what roses are most fragrant. I didn't know there are so many!
And Nic-Nac, i was always curious on how to press my roses, thank you for the input!!
Yasmin Shi
jackie89
15 years ago
I had good luck drying a rose from my mom's funeral by hanging it upside down. I started it in a rental car in Illinois and finished it in Idaho, where the climate is dry.

That's a good point about the difference in fragrances of roses for potpourri. Maybe the petals I want to dry will just look nice with some lavender.

Drying Rose Petals for Popurri

davidmark

Comments (6)

candlelady1994

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