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mooreboyz
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| Posted: Aug 04 2008 at 7:46pm | IP Logged
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I am planning to do a thorough nature study/botany unit in Sept and Oct and want to help the boys learn to identify flower families. I love Botany in a Day...I can finally name so many of the flowers I love and it is logical which is very cool to me.
Anyway, living in WI we don't get to enjoy flowers for very long each year and right now I can find numerous examples of all the flower families and I would like to preserve them some how so the boys can identify them by counting the petals/stamen/ etc. in the fall when we study. Does anyone know of a good way to do this? I know there are some that can be dried and this is great, but what about the others? I looked online and saw something about using glycerin (you put it in the vase and let the flowers absorb it like water) and this didn't turn out as I expected. Any other ideas? I'd really like them to be able to learn with real examples rather than pictures.
Thanks!
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Jackie
7 boys - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 years
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MaryM
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I have not tried it but my cousin successfully dries flowers with a silica gel.
I found this site which has the 4 most commonly used drying techniques. They sound intriguing and pretty easy, too. It would be fun to do an experiment and try the same flower with various methods and rate the success.
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mackfam
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I haven't tried other methods of flower drying, but I absolutely love our microwave flower press. It's super quick - taking only a couple of minutes in the microwave and does preserve most of the original color. Now, the flowers do get smoshed, but we dried some violets early this spring - several of them and arranged them at varying angles so that once dry the kids could still see and identify key parts of the flower. It worked out well. Works really great on leaves.
We've had our press for almost 5 years now. I do wish we had the large version, but ours was a gift - so no complaining. 
I can't wait to hear of other experiences with other methods of preserving. I'm really open to other ideas as this is one of our favorite things to do in spring and fall. Thanks for starting this thread, Jackie!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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lapazfarm
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Another option might be to visit greenhouses, florists, and herbariums (many museums have these) to see live and well-preserved specimens during the winter months. Also, you could try growing some of your own herbs and flowers indoors in the off season using grow lights.
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Theresa
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: Aug 04 2008 at 11:43pm | IP Logged
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Wow! I can't believe how qyickly you all replied. Thanks!
I think I will try out some of the methods on the site from Mary and report back. I will also check to see if the little store we have here carries the microwave press Jennifer mentioned. Sadly, we are lacking here in the greenhouse/herbarium area, but we do have a florist and so will use that for seeing exotics like orchids and when we want to disect them.
What have you used for storing your preserved flowers?
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Jackie
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mooreboyz
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I tried out the cornmeal and borax method on the site Mary listed and after 2 weeks...they are awesome! The color is just like the day I picked them and the shape is too. They feel dried, but aren't too fragile. I'm sold on this method. I put the mixture in a baby wipe container and put in 6 different flowers...marigold, echinacea, impatient, clematis, petunia, salvia. I made sure they were all covered and put it in the closet for 2 weeks. Try it out!
Now I'm going to go out and try to find an example of the main flower families and preserve those. I think this will be a fun sorting activity for the kids.
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Jackie
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TracyQ
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Thank you for this! I was just thinking about what I was going to do for flower pressing/preserving.
Tracy
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Tracy Q.
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CandaceC
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Ladies, what did you do with the flowers after you dried them?
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
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Mackfam
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I press mine flat, so they go in a nature sketch book. But, the ones Jackie is preserving sound like they preserve intact - 3D - is that right, Jackie? It sounds so neat. I can think of a million ways to set them out on collage trays in a variety of groupings for examples in a Botany display and as specimens for sketching when sketching inspirations are slimmer in the winter...sounds so neat, Jackie!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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mooreboyz
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Yes, that's right. They are 3D. How ever you lay them in the mixture they hold that shape. I'm hoping the kids will be able to recognize the leaf patterns and all the other identifying markers that we will be discussing from Botany in a day. I noticed too that the boys handled them sooo gently...a very good exercise for them.
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Jackie
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: preserving flowers
