How to dry <em>Allium</em> flowers?

When and how to cut allium flowers for drying?

Flowering of alliums begins in May and continues into summer depending on variety. It lasts about six weeks. In late summer, pollinated flowers, as they dry on the stem, drop their petals and undergo a morphosis into seed inflorescences with parchment-like colours that extend the decorative effect.

• Carry out at the end of a fine, dry, sunny day, once dew has evaporated,
• Always choose the finest flowers,
• Cut as low as possible (even if you need to trim the stems afterwards), without touching foliage which will yellow and dry so as to regenerate the bulb.

Picking allium flowers

Dry allium flowers in situ

Lazy gardener within you needn’t feel guilty! Ornamental allium flowers are among those flowers that dry very well on the plant: you only need to pick these magnificent globes in late summer once fully dry. Gather them into bouquets or arrangements in vases without water to decorate your home.

How to dry allium flowers in a vase?

Some flowers prefer to dry with heads upright, as is the case for ornamental allium flowers. If you don’t want to leave your allium flowers to dry on the plant in the garden, you can also dry them simply in a vase. Air-drying flowers is the simplest and most economical method.

1. Gather flowers into small bunches of 6 to 8 stems,
2. Trim stems slightly to even them up if necessary.

To dry ornamental allium flowers you can choose between these two main techniques: drying with or without glycerine in vase water. In both cases, wait a few days to a few weeks until flowers are completely dry and crack under the fingers.

To dry alliums in a vase without glycerine :

• Place your bouquet in a vase without water
• Leave flowers to dry naturally (drying time varies between 10 and 30 days depending on variety)

To dry alliums in a vase with glycerine:

To keep flowers somewhat supple, and prevent them from breaking like glass or parchment at the slightest draught, you can have them absorb glycerine before drying. Glycerine is easy to find in pharmacies, online, or in specialist home-decor shops. This technique replaces sap in the stems with glycerine.

• In a bowl, mix 2/3 hot water and 1/3 glycerine,
• Let mixture cool then pour into bottom of a vase,
• Immerse allium stems in the vase,
• Simply leave flowers to absorb this mixture completely

How best to preserve dried Allium flowers?

Once dried and gathered into bouquets or arrangements, your flowers remain sensitive to light: do not expose them to direct sunlight if you wish to preserve their lovely parchment colour for a long time.

Once drying is complete, you can spray a little hairspray from a distance of 30 cm onto flower heads to protect them from dust and ambient moisture; this will also prevent seeds from coming away too easily. To dust them, you can use a hairdryer from time to time and possibly apply a light spray of hairspray once a year.

Dried allium flowers can be kept for many years.

Which allium varieties should you choose for making dried flowers?

Not all allium varieties are suitable for drying. The large, spectacular globes of Allium christophii are better suited to it than the airy umbels of Allium carinatum ssp pulchellum or Allium moly. Choose tall species bearing well-rounded, compact umbels. Here is a selection of ornamental alliums well suited to drying :

Allium Globemaster

A spectacular ornamental allium whose umbels of deep mauve-pink measure 15-20 cm in diameter!

• Flowering time June, July
• Height at maturity 90 cm

See the product sheet

Allium aflatunense Purple Sensation

Features globular umbels 8-10 cm in diameter, which are more colourful and therefore even more decorative.

• Flowering time June, July
• Height at maturity 90 cm

See the product sheet

Allium Ambassador

An ornamental allium variety with large, spherical lilac-mauve flowers at least 15 cm in diameter.

• Flowering time July
• Height at maturity 1 m

See the product sheet

Allium giganteum

This giant produces impressive stems 1.5 m tall: lilac flower spheres 10-15 cm in diameter.

• Flowering time July, August
• Height at maturity 1,50 m

See the product sheet

Allium karataviense Ivory Queen

Its flowers form an ivory globe 15-20 cm in diameter.

• Flowering time July, August
• Height at maturity 25 cm

See the product sheet