Dried Flowers
What is that…?
A lavender flash floated to the ground like a feather, eventually finding its way to the grass. I had just cracked open a weathered old book, wondering if it was worth the 25-cent price tag at the local library book sale, when a purple surprise jumped out. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a sprig of lavender, preserved in the pages of that old book for what could have been decades. I was struck by the vibrancy still coursing through its long-dried veins and marveled at how stunning it must have looked like in bloom.
Used to attract potential pollinators, a flower’s color is usually based on its pigments, carotenoids and flavonoids. Fascinatingly, some flowers with the same pigments can appear different in color, like blue cornflowers which have the same pigments as red roses, but the pigments in the cornflower petals are bound to other pigments and metal ions, making cornflowers look blue. (Source)
Stay tuned for my new floral wreaths this fall!
Working with dried flowers brings out the scientist in me as I tinker in my “lab.” I work with Roots Wild Floral up in Terrebonne and love playing with their strawflowers. I also often experiment with desert flora, always making sure to identify the flowers first to make sure that I’m not collecting anything that is precious to the land.
