I have been playing around with natural dyes for the last year or two, just a little bit. I am at the point where I want to try a few more colours, so I thought I would try growing them myself this year! I think that I am planning to plant enough things just for their colour, that I can officially say that I am starting a dye garden in the corner of my yard. Want to see what I am growing?
I have a few natural dye plants growing in my yard already. I have roses and a sumac tree (which I am told doesn’t need a mordant due to the natural tannins it contains). I have experimented with those, and with onion skins and black walnuts.
Last year I tried planting cosmos and zinnias as well, but to be honest I wildly underestimated how many I would need to make a dye pot with! In hindsight that should have been fairly obvious, but for some reason Past Kathryn thought that the piddly little corners I left for flowers were going to magically be enough.
This year I am setting aside larger sections for flowers, as well as a few herbs that I have heard make interesting colours.
I am planning to experiment with some new types of flowers. The main one I want to try if black hollyhocks. For some reason this seems to dye yellow or green. (Though most flowers make yellow dye, so I am not sure why I am surprised).
Two new herbs I have never dyed with that I plan to grow are fennel and purple basil. Fennel apparently makes green, and I have heard that purple basil can make a greyish blue. Worth the effort to try when so many things just make yellow or brown!
The most striking colour I am aiming for is indigo. I have tried growing indigo for two years running with no success. I am determined to keep trying though! Maybe this will be my year?
What do you think, have you ever tried natural dyes? It’s something I have had a lot of fun learning about and I would love to hear what plants you have tried yourself!
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