How to dry Akebia Quinata (aka Chocolate Vine)

It's early April and a week of very warm weather here in South Yorkshire has kicked my Akebia Quinata into hyper-drive. This twining climber produces masses of dark purple flowers and little bunches of what looks like tiny grapes.

Twining Akebia Quinata covering a wooden fence

Akebia Quinata is a fleshy plant so it might not seem an obvious choice for drying, but I find it works well and the purple colour really deepens when dried. There are just a few tips to follow...

1. The flowers shrink a lot when they dry and given they aren't very big to start with I suggest picking the flowers at their biggest, when they have fully bloomed

2. I've found simple air drying (leaving the cut flowers somewhere to dry naturally) works best, but be sure to wait until both the flowers and the stems are fully dry before using - the stems take a few days or even a week longer to dry out than the flowers

This photo shows some stems I cut today, on the left, and some dried ones that I picked about 10 days ago, on the right. You can see the change in size and also how the purple colour has turned a much darker shade. I'll be using these to add dark accents to some purple flower letters I plan on working on this week.

Fresh and dried Akebia Quinata side-by-side