Sometime this winter, I'm going to have my first experience using natural dyes: Cochineal. I've perused my new natural dyeing book and then pulled out "A Dyer's Garden" by Rita Buchanan. Naturally, it got me thinking about planting a dyer's garden, especially since I already have Bronze Fennel and Correopsis growing in my front bed. I've already grown potatoes and tomatoes two years in a row in my front beds/pots and they need to either lay fallow or grow something else for the next two or three years. Letting them lay fallow isn't terribly attractive, even though that's what I was leaning toward. It seems that I put a lot of work and money into my veggies only to have a skimpy harvest. The Bronze Fennel, on the other hand, was a huge plant this past summer.
The fact that I already have two dye plants growing gave me the idea of planting a few more. That is, assuming my experiments with Cochineal dyeing turn out well. Now that I think of it, I had grown a few dye plants years ago when I was in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). The Weld was HUGE! I'd like to try and grown Woad, which produces blues. It substitutes for Indigo in cold weather areas, like Michigan. Most dye plants, though, produce some variation of yellow or green-yellow. I've got all winter to decide what I want to do. If nothing else, I'll get some fun seed catalogs in the mail to help me get through the gray. And next summer, I could have plants to dye with. Who knows, I might even plan a dyeing party.
Have you experimented with natural dyes? I'd be interested in hearing your stories.
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