6.06.2011

Lilacs









I stripped my Lilac tree last week. This is my first attempt at drying the blossoms. I'll let you all know how they turn out. If they do dry well, I think they would make wonderful additions to the pillows and sachets I make.

For now though, my whole house smells amazing!

Happy Monday.

11 comments:

Susannah Conway said...

These photos are making me so happy :)

pencilfox said...

love the photos of all the little bouquets hanging 'round your house!
i can smell the heavenly scent all the way up here!!

Amanda said...

Oh, lilacs....my absolute favorite! I hope the drying works out for you. That would be so awesome to use them for sachets and smell the sweet perfume long after the blooms have faded.

Anonymous said...

Some of the most beautiful pictures I have seen in a while! :) Wow. Lilac is my favorite smell. Bar none.

Pauper said...

I had a lilac bush just outside my window growing up, so I just adore them! Don't they look just so pretty hanging along the beam like that? Beautiful photos! Thank-you :)

Julia said...

definitely a report back, please! we have two lilacs and would love to make better use of them next year.

denise/deBRAT said...

oh my drying lilacs! this is so wonderful to think of. we had the loveliest lilac bushes when i was a teenager. purple and white and double french white and double french purple. i remember my mother had a clear glass vase that sat on the piano with lilacs in it the whole time the bushes bloomed! She had the most lovely flower garden and my dad had the most productive vegetable garden. times were so much simpler than. anyway, thank you for sharing the lilacs my second fav from growing up are the lily of the valley that grew all under a huge huge spreading oak tree. so delicate and yet so lovely.
thanks again for the memories and the pictures,
denise/deBRAT in tampa bay florida

Alicia said...

what a beautiful blog! Is very inspiring.

Karen said...

I've just discovered your blog while trying to find someone who has experimented with drying lilacs. I have a small shrub, so I won't have many blossoms to spare on experimentation. How did the lilacs perform? Did they fall apart? Did they retain any color or fragrance? How long were you able to enjoy them in their hanging state? Should I give it a go or spare my few little blossoms?

Karen said...

Also, I should tell you that the photos you took were inspiring. Even if the lilacs didn't perform well for you, you preserved them forever in your lovely photos!

Unknown said...

Hello Karen,

You are very sweet, thank you for your kind words. These lilacs lasted upside down quite a while, many months. The fragrance did not last very long. The color faded after several months, but this room gets a lot of indirect sunlight. I think the color would have lasted longer if they had been kept in a darker room.
If I were you, I'd give it a go! I wish I had picked mine a day or so earlier, to hang them up just before they started opening.
Best of luck!