A container of soft rose strawflowers welcomes visitors at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden food court.Although most of summer’s beautiful flowers are now gone from our gardens, we still can enjoy the beauty of those that are everlasting, those that have blossomed and dried directly on the plant.
We frequently see these plants, members of the Aster family, commonly known as strawflowers, for sale in craft stores or florists’ shops, however they are quite easy and fun to grow in our home gardens.
Botanically identified as Bracteantha bracteata, which is synonymous with Helichrysum bracteatum, this designation may be reclassified again as Xerochrysum breacteatum. Surprisingly, this plant, with its fruity flower odor, is classified as an herb. The flowers are used to make an essential oil, Helichrysum, useful in skin care, aromatherapy and as an anti-inflammatory oil.
Among the most beautiful annual flowers in the garden, strawflowers look like dried flowers even while growing. Their unique texture and vivid, colorful blooms appear to have been sprayed with a coat of varnish. As you would expect, they are excellent for drying and maintain their vivid colors indefinitely.
Measuring up to 2 inches across and native to Australia, these daisy-like flower heads that resemble petals or ray flowers, actually are bracts. The latter are modified leaves that surround a central corolla. While growing on a plant they feel straw-like, and have a papery texture.
START FROM SEEDS
Since they are not always available as bedding plants in nurseries, it’s a good idea to start them from seeds. It’s also interesting to watch them progress from seedlings to mature plants. Their seeds, which are extremely tiny, generally are available in a mix producing yellow, orange, pink, red, white and purple blossoms.
Start the seeds indoors in late March, making sure to press them onto the soil surface and lightly cover them with fine soil. They will need light to germinate. In May, once the soil has warmed up, you can carefully move them outdoors to their permanent location. Mix in some compost or other organic matter to help make the soil porous and light.
Strawflowers are easy to grow, sun-loving annuals that are drought-tolerant and perfect for hot, dry areas of the garden where they will bloom all summer long until hit by late frosts. Once established, let them dry out between waterings. They prefer low humidity and don’t like to be transplanted, so it’s best to choose a permanent location where they can remain for the entire season.
Vibrant yellow strawflowers continue to bloom into fall.Remember to deadhead to keep the blossoms coming all season long. Taller varieties of strawflowers are suitable for borders and containers, while shorter cultivars would do well in a window box.
HARVESTING
Harvesting should be done before the yellow centers of the blooms are visible. If you wait until the blossoms are fully open their petals will continue to bend backwards, creating an unattractive look. After cutting stems about 6 inches, remove any leaves, fasten the stems with a rubber band and hang them upside down indoors in a dry location in a shaded area.
Even though strawflowers almost dry themselves, it’s best to gather them in a bouquet and let them dry a bit longer, letting gravity shape them in a vertical setting.
The stems of strawflower plants are very brittle and it’s better to replace them with floral wire before drying. You will need to make a tiny ‘u’ at one end of a piece of floral wire and run the other end through the flower, pulling down until the ‘u’ is buried in the flower head.
Cultivars of the Bright Bikini mixture produce double flowers in shades of red, pink, orange, yellow or white on 12-inch-tall plants. A taller, rose-colored variety, Silvery Rose, will reach 30 inches. The Tetraploid Double Series of yellow, orange or white flower heads are especially vigorous. Tetraploids have been bred to have four sets of chromosomes as opposed to normal plants which have two sets. The result is fewer, but larger, blossoms on plants that are a little slower growing.
A winter bouquet of strawflowers gathered from your garden and placed in a vase without any water will brighten your spirits throughout the season. Their lovely blossoms do especially well in miniature flower arrangements or when used along with a bow in decorating gift packages.
Why not try something new and make a note to purchase a packet of strawflower seeds for next year’s garden?
GARDEN NOTES
A leisurely fall walk in the garden is the perfect opportunity to jot down some observations on ideas for spring planting. Keep a pad and pencil handy in your pocket and do a little cleanup as you write down your thoughts. A good idea is to clip your notes to a new 2013 calendar where you easily can find them after the holidays have passed.
Lee Gugliada is a member of the Great Kills Garden Club and First District Federated Garden Clubs of New York State.