Pine cones are Nature’s Barometer not Just a Rustic Style Statement
A pine cone found on the forest floor can be an indication of moisture( rainy area or rain to come ) or dry area or sunny day to come. Pine Cones are popular accents for holiday decorations, wedding accents, potpourri and floral arrangements. Since Pine Cones have been around, producing seed for our forests forever, they contain clues to the climate around them as well the weather that may be on its way!
Closed scales on a cone mean damp conditions while open scales mean the forest floor is dry. For Example if you are walking in a forest and the pine cones are predominately closed up that means there has been recent rainy weather , the cone scales want to close up .
In a dry area or on repeated sunny days the cone scales open .
We notice this with the cones we leave outside after taking some pictures, the
cones quickly close up with rainy weather and remain that way until the sun warms things up or dry weather is on its way.
When working with cones it is important to remember that the cones will closed if stored in a cool or moist area. Water exposure promotes closure , this includes painting . If you paint your cones make sure you dry them in a warm area. We dunked some in paint and left them outside to dry, they closed up by morning.
If you want your pine cones open , they need to be in a dry area . Inside a home is ideal this is why pine cone accents for Holiday decorations is so popular , they become awesome ornaments and accents and stay that way for years stored indoors. If you are decorating with rustic pine cones for outdoor arrangements, use larger pine cones as they take longer to dry out and will keep their open form better, like coulter pine cones, sugar pine and torrey pine cones. Some pine cones are sturdier with tougher scales, they are excellent for Christmas Crafts and will continue to stay open in all conditions, coulter pine, torrey pine, and digger pine cones. Other cones like the norway spruce are excellent for Christmas Wreaths because they stay closed so not subject to changes in temperature. For potpourri the small cones are not subject to the weather changes, like hemlock cones and alder cones. Coastal Redwood Cones of the sequoia species are hard sturdy cones and perfect for Christmas Crafting and used widely in garlands, accents, as they are super tough and popular for Christmas Crafting with Children.