Flowers bring vibrancy and joy to our lives, whether they are from our own gardens or a cherished bouquet. While their fresh beauty is fleeting, drying flowers offers a wonderful way to preserve their delicate charm and enjoy them for months, or even years, to come. Dried flowers, with their muted tones and enduring appeal, can add a touch of springtime elegance to your home throughout the year. There are several effective methods for drying flowers, including air drying, pressing, using silica gel, and glycerine. Success hinges on selecting the right types of flowers, harvesting them at the perfect moment, and ensuring proper post-drying care. Here’s a detailed guide from experts on the best techniques and tips for drying flowers.
Methods for Drying Flowers
Preserving flowers is easier than you might think, and each method offers unique results, allowing you to keep the beauty of your blooms for extended periods.
Air Drying Flowers: The Traditional Approach
Air drying is a straightforward and time-tested method, celebrated for its simplicity and eco-friendliness. “Air drying is the most accessible, cost-effective, and environmentally conscious way to dry flowers,” notes Jim Sutton, Associate Director of Display Design at Longwood Gardens. “It’s also a chemical-free process, meaning the dried flowers can be composted when you’re finished with them.”
Steps for Air Drying:
- Harvest Flowers at the Right Stage: Choose fresh flowers that have just bloomed, cutting them with a few inches of stem intact.
- Remove Excess Foliage: Strip off most of the leaves from the stems. Too much foliage can hinder the drying process and potentially lead to rot.
- Bundle and Secure: Gather the stems together and tie them securely with a rubber band.
- Hang Upside Down: Suspend the bundled flowers upside down in a well-ventilated area, away from direct sunlight. A dark, dry space is ideal for preserving color.
Experiment with shaping your flowers as they dry to create unique arrangements. Carla Wingett of Idlewild Floral suggests, “The shape flowers take while drying is the shape they will maintain. Try drying flowers upright in a vase to see how the stems naturally curve, or lay them flat on a dry surface and gently shape the stems into curves as they dry.”
Pressing Flowers: Capturing Flat Beauty
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Image: Delicate pressed flowers enhance the charm of handmade wedding invitations.
Flower pressing is perfect for creating flat, delicate blooms suitable for crafts, decorations, and keepsakes. “Pressed flowers aren’t ideal for vase arrangements because the stems are often removed, but they are stunning when pressed onto cakes, used as cookie decorations, or added to place cards for special events,” explains Wingett.
Steps for Pressing Flowers:
- Select Dry Flowers: Pick flowers on a dry day to minimize moisture content, which speeds up the drying process.
- Prepare the Press: Create a flower press by layering two sheets of wax or parchment paper between two pieces of plywood. Secure the wood tightly with wing nuts and bolts at each corner. Alternatively, a heavy book can also be used.
- Arrange Flowers: Place the flowers between the sheets of wax or parchment paper inside the press or book. If using a book, add weight on top to increase pressure.
- Ensure Thorough Drying: Allow ample time for all moisture to evaporate. The flowers should become completely flat and papery before carefully removing them.
Drying Flowers with Silica Gel: Preserving Shape and Color
Silica gel crystals are an excellent desiccant for those wanting to maintain the original shape and texture of their flowers during drying. “Silica drying is particularly suited for preserving very special flowers,” says Sutton. “However, it can be a more expensive method depending on the volume of flowers you wish to dry.”
Steps for Silica Gel Drying:
- Choose an Airtight Container: Select a plastic container with a lid that is large enough to accommodate your flowers without crushing them.
- Create a Silica Bed: Pour 1 to 2 inches of silica gel crystals into the bottom of the container.
- Position the Flowers: Place the flowers face-up on top of the silica gel bed.
- Cover Completely with Silica: Gently pour more silica gel into the container, ensuring the flowers are fully submerged and covered by the crystals.
- Remove Silica Dust: Once the flowers are dry, carefully brush off any residual silica dust with a soft brush. Silica gel crystals can be reused for multiple drying cycles.
Glycerine Drying: Maintaining Softness and Flexibility
Liquid glycerine is unique because it not only removes moisture from flowers but also replaces it, resulting in supple, preserved foliage. “Glycerine treatment gives flowers a soft, pliable feel and often retains the natural sheen of the foliage,” Wingett mentions. “The glycerine is absorbed through the stems, gradually replacing the water in the flowers, keeping them flexible.”
Steps for Glycerine Drying:
- Prepare Glycerine Solution: Mix one part glycerine with two parts water in a bucket, filling it to a depth of about 2 inches.
- Soak Flower Stems: Place the freshly cut stems of the flowers into the glycerine-water mixture.
- Air Dry After Absorption: After the flowers have absorbed the glycerine solution (this can take several days to weeks), remove them from the mixture and allow them to air dry completely.
Best Flowers for Drying: Choosing the Right Varieties
The best flowers for drying largely depend on the chosen drying technique.
- Air Drying: Hardy flowers with robust stems are ideal for air drying. Wingett recommends strawflowers, grasses and grains, hydrangeas, and roses. Sutton adds amaranth, celosia, lavender, eucalyptus, sea holly, yarrow, and gomphrena to this list.
- Pressing: Smaller, more delicate flowers with low moisture content are best suited for pressing. Sutton suggests pansies, larkspur, forget-me-nots, small orchids, cosmos, borage, daisies, and individual rose and delphinium petals. Leaves should be pressed separately.
- Silica Drying: Use silica gel for fragile blooms that you want to keep intact, such as water lilies, roses, and mums. This method prevents delicate petals from shriveling.
- Glycerine Drying: Glycerine is versatile and works well for flowers where you want to maintain pliability and color. Wingett recommends everything from small ferns to structural magnolias and globe-shaped hydrangeas.
Drying Time: Patience is Key
The duration required to dry flowers varies depending on the drying method and the type of flower. Smaller, thinner flowers dry faster, while thicker, denser flowers take longer.
- Air Drying: 2 to 3 weeks
- Pressing: 2 to 4 weeks
- Silica Drying: 1 to 3 weeks
- Glycerine Drying: 1 to 6 weeks
When to Harvest Flowers for Drying: Timing Matters
The optimal time to harvest flowers for drying is when they are in full bloom but just before they reach their peak maturity. “While it’s tempting to dry flowers from a bouquet that’s past its prime, the best time to dry flowers is when they’ve just opened and are still vibrant,” advises Wingett. “Harvest flowers when they are fully open but before the petals start to soften and fall off easily.”
Adding Color to Dried Flowers: Enhancing Vibrancy
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Image: A beautifully arranged bouquet of naturally muted dried flowers.
While the subtle, muted colors of dried flowers are part of their charm, you can enhance their vibrancy to more closely resemble fresh blooms. Wingett suggests adding dye during the drying process. “Try adding dye to a bucket of water and placing fresh flower stems in it overnight, allowing the dye to absorb into the stems and petals,” she says. “Alternatively, you can dip dried flowers into dye or diluted paint and hang them upside down to dry again. Eco-friendly plant-based dyes and paints are excellent choices for coloring your flowers.”
Longevity of Dried Flowers: Enjoying Lasting Beauty
Dried flowers are wonderfully long-lasting, but they are not impervious to time and environmental factors. “Dried flowers can last indefinitely, but they can become dusty and lose their freshness over time. Direct sunlight is particularly damaging,” Sutton cautions. “Sunlight will cause colors to fade quickly and can make them brittle and unattractive. Avoid placing dried arrangements near windows or in direct sunlight.” Wingett recommends enjoying your dried flower arrangements for about a year before replacing them. “I suggest refreshing your dried flower displays annually, composting the old ones, and creating new arrangements,” she advises.
Drying flowers is a rewarding way to extend the beauty of your favorite blooms. By using these expert-recommended methods and tips, you can create stunning dried flower arrangements and enjoy a touch of nature’s beauty in your home throughout the year.
