Dye Plants
Our Spinning Wheel Dye Garden is arranged by color of dye produced. The plant's common name is followed by its botanical name, the part of plant used for dye, and the color it produces on fabric, except where noted.
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Japanese Indigo (Persicaria Tinctoria)
Leaves = green to blue
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Indigo dyeing is based on an oxidation - exposing it to air during the dyeing process changes the color from green to indigo blue. Our caretaker, Laurie Pepin, has been experimenting with dyes from plants in our Spinning Wheel Dye Garden and produced these two color variations from Japanese Indigo.
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Elecampane (Indula helenium)
roots = blue/purple
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​Also called Horseheal, this yellow flowering plant dye was used for Scottish tartan blue. It is also used to make absinthe.
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Beefsteak Plant (Perilla frutescens)
petals = purple to green
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Despite the dark purple leaves, this plant produces a wide variety of colors from pale green to mauve - depending on the PH of the dye mix. Vinegar produces redder tones and soda ash produces greener ones. Perilla is a great addition to any garden with its showy leaves, and it can be moved easily at any time to fill in empty spaces. You will need to edit though, as it seeds prolifically. It is also used in cooking.
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Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)
flower,stalk = yellow-olive green
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Golden Rod (Solidago)
flower, stalk = yellow, gold
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Sulfur Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus)
roots = yellow
flowers = orange
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This annual is also an important pollinator plant, providing nectar when perennials are between blooms. It is very easy to grow and often self-seeds.
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Dayflower (Commelina erecta)
petals = blue
(printing)
You probably have this ubiquitous little blue wildflower growing in your yard. It has one of the few truly blue flowers in nature. In the Edo period in Japan (1603-1868) dayflower was used as a dye for woodblock printing or “pictures of the floating world” as they were called. The Japanese invented a method of mass producing color block prints, “Ukiyo-e”. By carving a locating guide in each block, multiple color layers could be aligned and printed. Previously each image had the black outline block printed and the colors tediously applied with a brush. The block printed color pictures, low in cost and widely available, were culturally similar to magazine advertising - art that the common man could put on the wall.
Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
flowers = blue
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Hollyhock (Alcea Rosea)
dark flowers = purples
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Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbekia fuldiga)
leaves, stems = yellow-orange
flowers = green
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Pokeweed (Phytolacca decandra)
brown to dark red
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Pokeweed, like most plant dyes on fabric, requires a "mordant" - an element that fixes the dye onto the fibers. Salt produces brown colors like the two seen here, vinegar produces reds. Pokeweed is a toxic plant so it must be handled with care.
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