Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen. And in this segment, we're going to talk all about arranging dried flowers. Well, there's so many different types of flowers that make great dried flower arrangements, and it's so nice to have fresh flowers, but dry them and then continue to enjoy them for months after that. And there's a lot of flowers that are great for dried arrangements, so we'll show you a few. So when you're drying flowers, my theory is just dry what you have fresh as soon as it starts looking a little bit tattered. Pull it out and put it in a paper bag or up on a shelf or hang it upside down. And you'll find there's a lot of different flowers that look good dried. For example, these are mini carnations, and they're just beautiful. They keep their color so well. And then statice is one of my favorites because it really lasts long and has that nice feathery look. And then we've got eucalyptus as a great filler, and it dries real nicely. And so it'll really show the greenery, and that silver color really looks good in arrangements. And of course, roses. Who doesn't love to receive roses fresh? But why not dry them because they stay nice dried as well, and you can always paint them different colors, too. I found that's really fun. For example, this rose was a red rose, and we just painted it black and left it with some baby's breath or gypsophila, and just let it dry as it is. And I love it. It's a very beautiful black rose. And it's easy to work with -- all you have to take is any color and paint it black. And you can also dye them black. But they dry just as nice as they're fresh. And plants like asters. This is just an aster family, and it dries real interesting. I mean, it's very interesting as dried. And so when you're arranging all of these plants, I found that simple is more -- very much more. And you want to work in odd numbers. So if I'm making a little bouquet here with some roses, you only want to use, like, three or five in a small vase. And I always let the vase tell me what to do because if you're using a larger vase, you want larger flowers and you want more of them. You want the tallest in the middle, generally, but you can always move them around, too, once you've got all your items together in a bouquet. And then the filler, I found, is the most important part because it really showcases your dried flowers. So by just adding a little bit of statice and this little bit of aster in the middle. And then the great part about dried flowers is they don't need water, so even short-stemmed plants or flowers can either be glued or set into a bouquet just easily. And they add so much color. And I always like to have a lot of color or white or gypsophila on the bottom to really have the taller flowers stand out. And by adding some eucalyptus now, you've got some greenery, which really makes it look like a natural bouquet. And you want it to really be pretty, and even cascading over is always nice. And you can use Oasis or you can use glue, but I found that by just intermixing all the different plants, they stay very secure. And I always want to have a little bit of an airy look to it. And then there's really no end to what you can do with dried flowers. And because it is a dried flower arrangement, so you can always glue or set different colors or shapes or wooden flowers in with them. And another trick I found that looks really pretty with dried flowers is adding different types of flowers. For example, this peacock feather just adds a lot to it, and it's just something that makes it a little more mystical. And there's all different colors that you can add to the bouquet. And you can always mix and match your different flowers and change them out. And what I like to do, too, is put items on a wreath. So this looks like Christmas right now, but you can take some of the red out of it and change the ribbon. And then just by adding some bright colored flowers in there, you can turn it into a nice summer wreath or a spring wreath or even put it into the fall with some leaves and change it out as the season changes and just collect flowers from your yard and your garden to add to your dried flower arrangements. And it's just a beautiful thing to do.
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