Most of my favorite flowers are everlastings. They look good all summer in my gardens and pots, and then brighten my home all winter in arrangements and wreathes. Everlastings aren't as showy as some of the other blossoms, but are at their best interplanted with more brilliant annuals and perennials.

You can find some started plants at the nursery, but as a rule, seeds are a better bet. Seeds for the more common ones like strawflowers and gomphrena are available right now. I have a very limited space, so I like to get only the colors I use. Most packets sold at the nurseries are multicolored, so I order mine from the seed catalogs. If you don't find what you want locally, try the catalogs at the library.

My favorite annuals for drying are:

• 1. Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)--An unusual flower with long drooping red blossoms which dry very nicely if they are kept out of the sunlight. They look beautiful flowing over the side of a vase.
• 2. Gomphrena globosa--Small purplish-red, pink and white clover-like flowers that dry exceptionally well.
• 3. Dusty Miller--Most people are surprised to find that this foliage plant can be cut in the Fall and dried. It makes a good silver filler material for wreathes.
• 4. Strawflower (Helichrysum)--This is of course the easiest flower to dry of all. It even feels dry while still in the garden. The 'Bright Bikini' variety is shorter and more compact and can be grown in containers. Pick them when only 2 or 3 rows have opened because they will continue to open as they dry.
• 5. Nigella--A beautiful blue flower which self-seeds freely. The burgundy striped pods are the part used in arrangements.
• 6. Statice (Limonium)--A very finicky plant which sometimes acts like a biennial and doesn't flower at all. I do grow the blue one because it's a hard color to find in everlastings. You might be better off to buy those lovely bunches for sale at the farmer's market!

My favorite perennial everlastings are:

• 1. Yarrow (Achillea)--The best yarrow for drying is Coronation Gold, but all the yarrows blend well with other dried flowers.
• 2. Chinese Lantern (Physalis)--I love the orange "lanterns" that appear in the Fall on this plant. They are a standard at our home combined with bittersweet vines. They act more like a weed in your garden, so beware. It's best to put them in a separate bed.
• 3. Artemisia--A lovely silver foliage plant for a barren area in all day sun. Mine are growing happily next to the foundation, which used to be totally bare and lifeless. The best variety for our area is Silver Queen, it's hardier then Silver King. Cut it halfway down when it develops round buds in the latter part of the summer. The best place to dry it is inside a large round basket. When you take it out after a few weeks, it's all ready to be wired into a wreath shape.
• 4. Baby's Breath (Gypsophilia)--The new double varieties bloom longer, but I've found that they aren't as hardy here in Minnesota. The old-fashioned ones in Grandma's garden seem to be the ones that thrive year after year.
• 5. Oregano--I use a lot of oregano both cooking and in wreathes. When you choose your plants at the nursery, pick the one that has the darkest purple buds. This is the part that will show up when you dry it.
• 6. Lambs ears (Stachys)--A good edging plant everyone loves to touch because of its fuzzy leaves.
• 6. Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis)--The leaves of this perennial hold the dew almost all day. The small yellowish flowers dry well and are a good filler in arrangements and wreathes.

Collect your flowers and leaves when they are dry, preferably in the late morning. Tie them in bunches of ten to twenty stems with a rubber band, and then hang them from a coat hanger with twine. A dark, warm, well ventilated area such as an attic, is the best.

If you don't have a flower garden, why not plant them with your vegies? If you have a herb garden, you already have a head start, because almost all herbs are everlastings and will dry easily, whether for cooking or decoration.

When gardening outside is over, I get my dried flowers out to make my wreathes for Christmas presents. They never fail to remind me that winter won't last forever, and I will again be out in the gardens cutting.