Perfect Beautiful Dried Flowers

Today I went to the school where four of my grandsons go because Hunter and Tanner had their award ceremony.  They're in fourth grade this year and Tanner got an award for A-B honor roll and Hunter got an award for perfect attendance.  They were so cute up on the stage.  I took pictures and waved at them a lot.  Tomorrow night I have to go back to the school because Kyle, my oldest grandson, is having his eighth grade graduation.  I have to take pictures of him too, so I hope I don't forget my camera.

I've tried several different ways to dry flowers and herbs and each method would take too long and the end product would usually be brown and ugly.  I've tried drying herbs on screen frames, laying them on plates and putting them in a dark dry place, in the sun, on the dryer, and I've even tried drying them in the microwave or oven, but I never liked the results from any of these methods.  I heard one time about a drying method that has worked so well for me that it's the only way I've dried ANYTHING for several years.

Paper bags of flowers and herbs drying on my dash.

I cut the flowers or leaves of what I want to dry.  Then I put each item in its own brown paper bag, fold down the top and put a clothes pin on it to hold the bag closed.  Then I take the bag(s) out to my car and put them on the back dash, leaving all of the windows rolled up, and I have perfectly dried specimens in only one or two days, depending on how hot it is.  If I have too many bags to dry at once, if it's hot enough in my car, I'll lay some of the bags on the backseat.  I suppose it would be handy to have an old car sitting in the yard to dry my little bags of flowers/herbs in.  Using this method, the flowers retain their beautiful color and the herb leaves remain green.

Flowers dried in car in a paper bag:
Calendula, Lavender, Chamomile and Rose Petals

I just took this picture of flowers dried in brown paper bags on the dash of my car.  Aren't they beautiful?  On the back row is Calendula and Lavender, and on the front row is Chamomile and Rose Petals.  I hope if you haven't tried this method of drying yet, that you will give it a try.  It's very rewarding when you want a cup of tea and the herbs and flowers you have to choose from look like this instead of being brown and colorless.  Happy drying.