Environmental Horticulture Posted November 1997 Foliage for use in winter arrangements may be preserved now by using glycerin. The leaves of many plants make interesting arrangements even without flowers particularly when combined with seed heads and cones. The procedure is simple. All you need to do is stand the stems or leaves in a mixture of one part glycerin and two parts water. Midsummer is a good time to get started on this project because the leaves are in an active stage of growth and will absorb the glycerin rapidly.
Absorption usually takes about two or three weeks.
Many kinds of leaves can be preserved by the glycerin process. Leaves from trees such as beech, birch, peach, plum, poplar are satisfactory. Of the shrubs try barberry, forsythia, blueberry, privet, rhododendron and rose. If you are unsure of preserving the leaves of a certain plant, first test them while they are in the green stage. Use leaves which will exhibit a pleasing autumn color or those plants which have the structure or texture you plan to emphasize in the arrangement.