Oh the crisp cool days of fall! A lot of hustling, last minute garden harvests, berry picking, apple picking.
And a moment for a bit of simple crafting with one of my favorite plants. See the picture above? The little nosegay off to the side is a bundle of dried yarrow I picked earlier this year and wrapped in pretty yarn and hung to dry.
Yarrow dries beautifully, means a lot of things to a lot of cultures, has been used as medicine everywhere it grows and I always have a bundle hanging by my door.
You will need:
- An open work basket with an edging big enough to thread flower stems through
- a plant you like the look of that dries well
- a pair of sharp scissors
The basket I used was made by my son. He wasn't really happy with how he finished the edge of this one. That said, any basket with a decorate edge or a bit loose weaving towards the top will work.
Cut the yarrow so the stems are about 5 inches long, but shorter will work for some sections. You just need them long enough to weave them in a bit.
Get comfortable, and start weaving the yarrow into the top. Pull it as close to flush with the basket as possible so looks nice and full.
Weave the ends in a couple inches. As you add more yarrow, you can also weave the ends into the other ends of yarrow and the basket.
After the edge is completely filled in, go around and snip off any pieces of stem that are too long.
Hang, and enjoy it while it's drying.
You can also tie a ribbon or piece of fabric in a bow under it, but if you do that, do it before the yarrow dries so you're not breaking off the yarrow.
Dried yarrow has stayed nice looking for me for a couple years. Since I'm not sealing this, when it does start fading in a few years, I'll carefully break off the dried yarrow and replace it. If you don't want to do that or if you're giving the basket as a gift, you can use a clear spray sealing spray on it after it dries completely to preserve the colors.
