Throughout the year, members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay collect and dry flowers. Some of us dry fruit (new method this year – cut oranges, lemons or limes thinly with a V-blade slicer, soak briefly in lemon lime soda for color retention, then dry on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat in a 170 degree oven until brittle.) As fall progresses, we start collecting milk weed pods, baptisia, bark and lichen, and of course a variety of pine cones. Just before wreath week, we cut fresh greens to augment the balsam with other interesting textures and colors. White pine, juniper, and cedar are favorites, and we love to acquire blue spruce and variegated evergreen boughs. In the wreath shown below, a member saved and dried flowers from her son’s October wedding, including roses from a bridesmaid’s bouquet, and fashioned a wreath for the newlyweds’ new home.
