Drying sedum flowers

sedumdrying verticalSlap me if you see me doing this in the future. I never learn.

Every autumn I marvel at the fantastic colours of the sedums (stone crop) flowers in the garden.  All summer they have been relentlessly green.

And then the alchemy begins.  Most of mine are Autumn Joy (herbssfreude) and they will start to turn crimson from about late September.

And in this amazing autumn, they really are a joy. Even now two months on the colour remains. But it fades.

And every year I think, I must capture this brilliant colour and dry the flowers for a winter display.

So I start madly snipping and bunching and hanging bouquets in dark corners of sedum in garden 1my office.

And every year all I get is a blah display of dying flowers with the added thrill of aphids and something slimy which attacks the leaves.

If you know the magic solution (glycerine?) let me know. And in the meantime I just have to resist the urge to snip and enjoy them in the garden.

artur sedumOr do like Artur and use them as a shade cover when this ridiculous Indian summer throws too much heat and he can hide near the shade of the thick stalks.

sedum in garden