Dried flowers hold a timeless charm, preserving the beauty of blossoms long after their natural season has passed. Whether you’re looking to capture the essence of a special bouquet, extend the life of your garden blooms, or craft unique decorations, learning how to dry flowers opens up a world of creative possibilities.
Believe it or not, you don’t need expensive or hard-to-source materials to get gorgeous dried blooms. In fact, one of the methods that holds the brightest colors might already be hanging out in your laundry room.
In this tutorial, I’m going to cover some of the most popular methods for drying flowers as well as when to pick flowers for the best results and popular flower varieties that dry well.
Choosing Flowers to Dry and When to Harvest
Selecting the right flowers is crucial for successful drying. Ideally, you want blossoms that are at their peak just before they reach full maturity or start to decline.
- Timing: Harvest flowers in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sun becomes too intense. This ensures the flowers are hydrated but not full of excess moisture.
- Stage of Bloom: Choose flowers that are fully open or starting to open. Avoid flowers that are fully mature or beginning to fade, as they may not hold their shape well during the drying process.
- Condition: Select flowers that are free from pests, disease, or physical damage. Healthy, blemish-free blooms will dry more beautifully and retain their color and shape better.
You’ll want to plan to dry your flowers immediately after you’ve picked them. The fresher they are when you start the process, the better your finished result will be.
Flower Drying Methods
There are several ways to dry flowers, each suited to different types of blooms and desired results.
Air Drying
This is by far the easiest as you don’t need anything else but the flower and a spot to dry them in. However, you won’t achieve the brightest colors with air drying. Air drying is great if you’re going for a more homespun or rustic look or for certain types of flowers that don’t have a lot of moisture in them, to begin with, such as statice or straw flowers.
Materials Needed: Rubber bands or string, a well-ventilated, dark, and dry room.
Instructions:
- Step 1: Gather your flowers into bunches, grouping similar varieties together. Keep the bunches small. Larger bunches tend to end up with crushed stems or leaves, which can lead to spoilage. Smaller bunches will dry faster, too, again, leaving less of a chance for them to spoil.
- Step 2: Secure the stems with rubber bands or tie them with string, leaving enough length for hanging.
- Step 3: Hang the flower bunches upside down from a hook or hanger in a cool, dry, and dark area with good air circulation. This could be a closet, attic, or unused room.
- Each of these factors is important. You want a cool room, as a warm room can lead to mold growth or spoilage. Naturally, if the end goal is to dry the flowers, you need to put them in a space with low humidity. Running a dehumidifier in your drying room can help. And finally, you want the space to be dark to maintain the flowers’ color when drying. Light, especially sunlight, will bleach the flowers.
- Step 4: Allow the flowers to dry naturally for 1-3 weeks, depending on the flower type and humidity levels. Check periodically to ensure they are drying properly and not molding.
- Step 5: Once dried, gently remove the rubber bands or strings and store the dried flowers in a dry, airtight container until ready to use. Adding a desiccant packet to the container will ensure the flowers remain dry and pull out any residual moisture.
Air drying is one of the oldest methods of drying flowers and yields pretty good results. The finished flowers have a rustic charm. However, it’s not the best method for preserving vibrant colors.
Desiccant Drying
Desiccants are materials that pull moisture out of the air and objects around them. They’re often used to keep commercial goods dry and to prevent spoilage before they reach the consumer. You’ve likely seen a desiccant packet in the box when you purchase a pair of shoes or in a bottle of vitamins.
Using a desiccant to dry flowers is the best way to preserve the color of your blooms.
There are quite a few inexpensive household items that are also desiccants. These are great, inexpensive options that work well for drying flowers. When you’re using a desiccant to dry flowers, the process is essentially the same, no matter which you use. I’ll cover the process later, but first, here are your desiccant options.
Unscented Cat Litter
Cat litter, even the budget clay litter, is manufactured specifically to absorb moisture. You can use silica, corn, wheat, clay and wood cat litter to dry flowers. You want a litter that’s granulated rather than pellets. Pellets allow too much air in and can crush the flowers under their weight. If you choose a clay litter, be sure to use a fine textured clay.
Drying time: 5-14 days
Silica Gel Crystals
These are what are in the desiccant packets you find in shoe boxes, etc. You can buy them in many craft stores or online. However, the markup is pretty steep. If you want to use silica gel crystals, I highly recommend using the unscented silica cat litter, as it’s much cheaper.
However, there are some nicer silica crystals that will change color once they’ve absorbed enough moisture, which can be a handy indicator when drying flowers.
Drying time: 5-16 days
Borax
Yup, good ol’ Borax is a natural desiccant. And it’s a great option for drying flowers, as it holds the color fastness of the flowers well. Plus, it’s light enough that it won’t crush the flowers too much like a clay cat litter would, for instance.
Drying time: one to two weeks
Drying with Desiccants
Materials Needed: Your chosen desiccant, an airtight container large enough to hold the flowers and your desiccant, and a soft-bristle paintbrush.
Instructions:
- Step 1: Fill the bottom of the container with a layer of desiccant.
- Step 2: Trim the flower stems and remove any foliage that might get in the way. Carefully place your flowers on the layer of desiccant. It’s best to put individual blooms face down to hold their shape.
- Step 3: Gently pour more of the desiccant over and around the flowers until completely covered, ensuring the petals remain intact.
- Step 4: Seal the container and place it in a cool, dry place for the recommended drying time, depending on the flower type, size and desiccant.
- Step 5: Carefully remove the flowers from the silica gel. Gently shake or tap the flowers, and then use a soft paintbrush to brush off any remaining desiccant.
- Step 6: Store the dried flowers in an airtight container until ready to use.
Shaping Flowers Once They Are Dry
Flowers naturally become compressed when you dry them. You can improve their finished shape with a warm mist vaporizer. Hold the dried flower in front of the steam for a few seconds and gently reshape the petals.
Allow the flowers to completely air dry once again before using them in arrangements.
Pressing Flowers
Other than air drying, this is probably the flower-drying method most of us are familiar with. Perhaps you’ve tucked a flower or four-leaf clover into a book you were reading and found it again sometime later.
This method creates a flat, pressed flower, perfect for things like homemade paper, bookmarks, decoupage and more.
Materials Needed: Heavy books, parchment paper, and absorbent paper towels.
Instructions:
- Step 1: Place the flower between two sheets of absorbent paper towels.
- Step 2: Arrange the flower carefully to preserve its shape.
- Step 3: Place the paper towel with the flower inside a heavy book.
- Step 4: Stack more books or weights on top of the book containing the flower to press it flat.
- Step 5: Leave the flowers to press for 1-4 weeks, changing the paper towels every few days if they become damp.
- Step 6: Once dried and pressed, carefully remove the flowers and store them flat in a dry, airtight container until ready to use.
Top Ten Most Popular Flowers for Dried Arrangements
Certain flowers are particularly well-suited for drying due to their structure, color retention, and durability. Here are the top ten flowers often chosen for dried floral arrangements:
Lavender – Known for its calming fragrance and elegant spikes of purple flowers.
Roses – Classic and romantic, roses dry beautifully and retain their shape and color.
Baby’s Breath – Delicate and airy, baby’s breath adds texture and volume to arrangements.
Hydrangeas – Large, colorful blooms that dry well and can be used as focal points.
Statice – Available in various colors, statice has papery flowers that retain color well when dried.
Eucalyptus – Known for its aromatic leaves, eucalyptus adds texture and a pleasant scent to arrangements.
Sunflowers – With their large, bold heads, sunflowers bring a sunny disposition to dried bouquets.
Dahlias – Vibrant and diverse in color, dahlias dry well and retain their intricate shapes.
Celosia – Also known as cockscomb, celosia has unique, velvety flowers that add a dramatic touch to arrangements.
Marigolds – Small, cheerful flowers that dry well and retain their bright colors.
Of course, there are so many more flowers that look lovely when dried. Here are even more flowers to use in your dried floral arrangements. Get creative and experiment.
Whether you prefer the simplicity of air drying, the brighter colors of desiccant drying, or the time-honored tradition of pressing, each method offers unique advantages for different types of flowers. Try out each method and learn which you like best. Let your creativity bloom!
