Meet Monsieur Jules Elie

Bonjour Monsieur Jules Elie! Enchanté de faire votre connaissance!

Just kidding, I’m not French! Nor do I speak any!

But for the sake of this luscious and feminine flower who seems to have a gender identity crisis, I will pretend!

This was the very first bloom that I have ever picked from this plant. She’s a new addition and was planted only three years ago. Meeting your first peony on your freshly-planted bush is always a long-awaited moment. But always, ALWAYS worth the wait.

I’m going to show you the process that I dry my peonies every year. It’s slightly more advanced than a regular dried flower but at the same time rather unprofessional, simple, and perhaps slightly lazy. ;)

But it always yields stunning results.

I own an Etsy flower resin craft business and I pride myself on the fact that all of my flowers are grown in my own yard or foraged in the wilderness. Once spring and summer roll around I am always swamped in an abundance of fresh, lively ladies (i.e. flowers). Because of lack of space and materials I sometimes have to improvise or get creative on a whim to dry and preserve them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Like other peony plants, the Monsieur Jules Elie also can produce double blooms. Today I found a double bloom as well as a “regular” bloom. Which is still pretty big and impressive.

First I start by pouring a little bit of silica beads in the bottom of the pan, just to cover it. Also, silica beads can be “recharged” in the oven at a low temp and used over and over. Hence the reason for the discoloration and flower confetti mixed in!

Now it’s ready for the silica beads. I try to cover as much as I can but if some of the petals are still poking out, it will still produce the same results.

Today I found a single and a double bloom. About an inch and a half difference!

I let it wait for a couple of days to dry. I usually don’t let it dry completely because there’s always flowers behind this one that are waiting in line for the beads. As long as it sets up in the drying process initially, it’s usually okay to let it dry on its own after that.

I live in a hot, dry climate so everything dries very, very quickly with little chance for mold. Of course in a more humid climate I would have longer drying time and possibly different results.

Please follow along for my next post when I show the results after the drying process!