Real Flower With Petals That Feel Like Paper

Characteristics

• Straw flowers sometimes grow as perennials in their native Australian habitats. In U.S. gardens, they typically perform as long-blooming annuals. Papery, attention-grabbing daisylike flowers crown their erect stalks of silvery to dark-green leaves from spring until autumn. Densely layered petals encircling the bloom's yellow centers range from white to different shades of pink, yellow, orange, red and maroon. Straw flower varieties stand between 1 and 4 feet tall.

Growing Straw Flowers

• Heat-loving straw flowers thrive in the climates of the American Horticultural Society's Heat Zones 3 to 12, where temperatures reach a plant-stressing 86 degrees Fahrenheit between one week and seven months each year. They struggle, in high humidity and damp locations. Their ideal growing site has full sun and averagely fertile, well-draining soil on the dry side. They also tolerate partial shade. In the right conditions, they may self-sow. Plants started from seed indoors need six weeks to two months growth before going outside after the final spring frost.

Problems

• Insect pests seldom bother straw flowers. Downy mildew is a potential problem. This fungus attacks plants from inside their leaves. It's most active during the cool, damp weather straw flowers dislike. The wind- and water-borne spores needs wet foliage on which to germinate. Cottony, purple, gray or brown masses of spores on leaf undersides are classic downy mildew symptoms.

Cultivars

• Straw flowers species grow from seed. However, most cultivars propagate from cuttings. Cultivar series include Wallaby with double flowers and dense, grayish-green leaves. Their petal's rounded tips give the blooms a frilly appearance. Wallaby Flame has red to red-orange petals around large, bright-gold centers. These plants stand from 10 to 15 inches high and wide. Dreamtime Series plants form 10-inch to 1-foot cushions of dark green leaves. They offer better cold tolerance than other straw flower cultivars. Dreamtime Rose Pink has double, deep pink petals. Dreamtime Copper's blooms are yellow-orange.

Drying Straw Flowers

• The time to cut straw flowers for drying is before the buds open enough to reveal the yellow centers. Each flower needs a 6- to 12-inch stem with its leaves removed. The blooms need a dry, dark area with good air circulation in which to dry. Bind them in loose bunches with twist ties or rubber bands and hang them, flowers down. Normal drying time is between two and three weeks.