PRESERVATION PROCESSES

This represents the pinnacle of advanced stabilization methods. The plant's fresh base is immersed in a shallow layer of preservation liquid, constituting a cutting-edge mixture encompassing glycerin, water, food coloring, and essential nutrients. Glycerin serves as a moisture retainer within the plant, while the food coloring imparts the desired hue. Concurrently, the plant draws sustenance from the nutrients, nurturing it through the multi-day preservation process. Following the absorption of this surrogate sap, the preserved plant undergoes a 24-hour drying period.

Each plant presents distinct characteristics: preservation solution temperature, absorption duration, harvesting timing, and nutrient composition all converge to ensure the preservation process's triumph. Esteemed as the most refined approach, this technique unveils unprecedented foliage shades while upholding the innate color of branches and stems. Given their bulkier nature, these components don't readily permit dyes to permeate their surfaces. Capillarity preservation finds application in select flowers, like statice, where the preservation of the stem suffices, considering the natural dryness that characterizes the flower itself.

This method represents the most prevalent approach for stabilizing flowers. Ensuring the flowers are exceptionally fresh is paramount to achieving success in the preservation process. Specific flower varieties are particularly well-suited to this preservation technique. The method unfolds through a two-step immersion process.

In the initial stage, the flower is submerged in a pure alcohol solution for 24 hours. The objective here is twofold: to dehydrate the flower while retaining its natural form. However, this initial bath also leads to the flower's original color fading. The subsequent step involves a solution comprising alcohol, propylene glycol, glycerin, and food coloring. The propylene glycol and glycerin, catalyzed by the alcohol, meticulously rehydrate the flower. Simultaneously, the food coloring bestows the desired hue upon the flower.

The flower heads are preserved individually, sans their stems. This is due to the potential for the stems to assimilate the flower's color if left intact.

Immersion preservation involves the utilization of desiccated plants. This process encompasses submerging the dried plant within a rehydration solution comprised of glycerin, water, and food coloring. The solution necessitates pre-heating to a minimum of 104 °F (around 40 °C). As the procedure unfolds, the plant regains suppleness and assumes the desired hue. Subsequent to the bath, meticulous cleaning and drying of the plants take place. Drying duration varies significantly depending on the plant variety, influenced by factors such as its spongy texture and porosity.

Despite being more economical and involving fewer risks, this technique is notably less dependable over time compared to other preservation methods. The conservation quality achieved using this approach doesn't stand on par with the outcomes of alternative preservation methodologies. There's a single exception: lichen. Lichen is subjected to immersion in a salt solution, affording preserved lichen the advantage of being non-flammable (unlike when glycerin is employed) and intrinsically shielded against insects. Nevertheless, it's crucial to note that lichen does desiccate if the ambient air humidity dips below 40%.

Certain plants can be conserved through a fusion of multiple techniques. To illustrate, one can initiate the preservation process by dehydrating the plant within an alcohol bath, followed by rehydration within a heated glycerin bath—excluding the use of a catalyst or propylene glycol. Alternatively, a freshly harvested plant can be immersed, leveraging capillarity preservation to absorb glycerin through the bath. Combining capillarity preservation with immersion is a common strategy to ensure the integrity of the exterior color. Furthermore, capillarity preservation can bolster a plant's resilience, which can then be complemented by color enhancement through immersion.

Innovation in preservation techniques continues to progress, with groundbreaking methods like pressurized CO² utilization emerging. These advancements open doors to preserving novel plant varieties and notably truncating the preservation timeframe. The realm of plant preservation remains youthful, marked by a perpetual evolution of knowledge and techniques in this domain.