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How to Preserve Penny Gum
Flowers From Howick’s Florist Tip
The ever-popular greyish-silver leaf Penny Gum (Eucalyptus Cinerea) is often used as decoration. Some folk like it strewn across wedding tables, or in floral arrangements, on its own as a gorgeous bunch in a vase, in wreaths, in swags, pressed art, potpourri, or hung up in the shower filling the room with the healthy Eucalyptus scent. (They say florists never get the common cold as they are often inhaling Penny Gum fumes!)
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• Use Penny Gum fresh, or preserve it by creating a mixture of one part vegetable glycerine and two parts boiling water. • If the stems are woody, smash the ends with a hammer before placing them into the solution, for easy absorption. • When the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, stand the stems about three inches high in this solution for about 2 to 3 weeks. Patience is the name of the game! Keep an eye on it and top the solution up every few days as the Penny Gum absorbs it. • Use mature Penny Gum leaves: the young leaves tend to get floppy. You can also air-dry Penny Gum without using the glycerine solution. (The leaves may become a bit brittle with airdrying.) Simply tie the bottom of the bunch together and hang upside down in an airy place.
The air-dry or water-glycerine preservation can be used on various species of gum leaves – the longer elongated leafed ones, the mini leafed ones etc. Penny Gum is so called because the round silver leaf resembles a shiny silver penny. Florists often stock Penny Gum.
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