Monday 3 September 2012

Harvesting Colour

I seized a rare sunny day with dryish plants to start harvesting my dye plants
 Gensita tinctoria - dyers green weed- this I am drying

 Some of my gensita had gone to seed while I was away  so I cut some to try and see what it was like to dye with in this state. Some plants  lose all their colour when they have gone to seed.
 Golden rod Solidago canadensis- this does not seem to dry well so I will try and dye stuff with all  over the next few weeks as overdyed in indigo it  gives fabulous green.
 Look what is coming over.!   Harvesting became a race.

 Tansy Tanacetum vulgare.  I am drying this this year for the first ime to see what it is like dried.
Coreopsis sp.  I have both this and the Coreopis tinctoria which has a much smaller flower  but which is prolific.  Coreposis has been very slow to flower  this year as it has been such a bad summer  but now it has been getting going.
Race lost! Pouring with rain.!