Bunches of gladioli

When ever I go to the supermarkets, I seem to gravitate towards the flower and plant sections. We live right near one of the main supermarkets here in the UK and I sometimes go in to just see what cut flower bunches they have. They always have bunches in a "bargain bucket" and I love rescuing them and using them for styled shoots, crown making or to hang and dry. I have been doing this for a while but, for some reason, I seem to never really share. It is an everyday thing now, buying rose bunches and hanging them in my closet for a few weeks before displaying them on my walls.

This morning, I found so many bunches of gladioli in the bargain bucket for just 50p and bunch! I am growing lots of these in my greenhouse and have been excited for them to bloom so, when I saw these bunches, i wanted to grab a few. I picked out a pink, purple and peachy colour bunch. I wasn't really too sure what I would do with them. The flowers had gone over slightly so I thought about drying them out and experimenting on how they turn out. Their petals are very delicate but so are roses and they seem to dry so wonderfully. I did a little research on google but couldn't really find much on drying out these flowers so I have just decided to give it a go and see what result I get.

I put on some sleeping at last, sat on Elle's bedroom floor with her and started to prepare the bunches. I always strip of a lot of the leaves as I find the overall dried bunch looks better without wilted leaves. I trimmed the end and tied the bunches with twine. I have now hung them in my closet where they will stay until the Autumn. Above my craft desk in my bedroom, I am planning a dried flower hanging wall to hang all the dried out bunches. I have lots of dried roses, poppy pods, wheat and delphiniums to show and I cannot wait to start. I am going to be heading out to the hedgerows over the next few days to pick loosestrife and hydrangeas to try and dry also!

If anyone has any experience with drying gladioli, I would love to hear! I am going to be showing some of my other dried flower bunches and more of the process as well as flower pressing also!