Have you ever had a bouquet that you wished you could keep forever? Learn to create dried floral arrangements and you will never have to go through the sadness of tossing out a bouquet again! Whether it is a wedding bouquet or a bouquet from your summer garden, you can learn to preserve them as dried flower bouquets. You can also give dried flower gifts. The three most popular ways to dry blooming flowers are air-drying, using desiccants, and microwave drying. Air-drying is the simplest and cheapest method — people have been air-drying flowers for centuries. Using desiccants to dry flowers is another method that's especially useful for flowers that do not respond well to air-drying, like thicker flowers or flowers prone to wilting. Microwave drying is the new favorite for people who hate to wait, such as myself; this method completely dries flowers within hours.
Air-drying is the simplest and cheapest method for drying flowers and has been used throughout history. A handful of plants that respond well to air-drying are statice, baby's breath, cockscomb, hydrangea, lavender, and heather, but there are many more. To air-dry flowers, follow these steps:
- Cut flowers just before they are fully opened, or use flowers that are already cut at their prime. Remove leaves from the stems, then tie the stems loosely together.Cut flowers just before they are fully opened, or use flowers that are already cut at their prime.Photo by: Mary St George
- Hang the flower bunch upside down from rafters, hangers, or some other object that allows air to circulate freely around the flowers. Good air flow prevents molding. Darkness prevents the colors from fading as badly: A dry, dark room, like an attic, is perfect. Hang the flower bunch upside down from rafters
- Wait patiently for approximately three weeks — I know, this is the hard part. When the flowers are dry and crisp, they are ready to use. Wait patiently for approximately three weeks.Flickr
Flowers like lilies, daisies, and tulips that generally do not air-dry well can be air-dried by spraying them with hairspray before following the directions for air-drying above. Some flowers, such as roses and hydrangeas, will dry naturally in a vase as the water evaporates — it doesn't get any easier than this! Many ornamental grasses, seed pods, and flowers in the garden and in the wild dry naturally and just need to be harvested. My favorite way to dry flowers is to let them dry on their own! Many flowers will change color as they dry. Many times, flowers can be painted, dyed, and sprayed with lacquer or painted with glue to change or preserve colors. Desiccants Photo by: Colin Zhu Desiccants such as silica gel, sand, perlite, borax, and cornstarch can be used to dry flowers. You can make a desiccant yourself, or you can buy silica gel or silica sand at craft stores and it can be reused. Desiccants are great for drying flowers that are delicate and do not respond well to air-drying. Roses, peonies, tulips, pansies, geraniums, lilies, and zinnias are just a few that tend to dry better this way.
- Make your own desiccant mixture or buy silica gel.
- As with air-drying, cut flowers just before they are fully opened or use cut flowers at their peak. However, in this method, you will need to cut off most of the stem.
- Pour half an inch of desiccant in the bottom of an airtight container big enough to hold all of your flowers without layering them.
- Arrange the flowers and sprinkle the desiccant all over the flowers until they are covered, making sure you do not crush the flowers.
- Put the lid on the container, and do not open it or move it except when you need to check the flowers for dryness.
- When flowers are crisp and dry but not brittle, they are finished. Store them carefully.
Tips: Stems take up too much space to dry this way. You can make stems out of wire and florist's tape and attach them to the dried flower. Microwave drying is quick; flowers have different drying times, but even the longest drying time in the microwave is four or five minutes. They do need to stand undisturbed overnight afterward, but the entire process takes a day — that's a big difference from a few weeks with traditional drying methods! Often, flowers retain color better with this method than with air-drying or desiccants. Thick flowers with multiple petals such as zinnias, roses, and carnations work best for this type of drying — thin, delicate flowers do not work as well.
- Use flowers that are only half-open; fully open flowers tend to lose petals.
- In a microwave-safe container, follow the steps listed above for drying with desiccants.
- Place the container of desiccant-covered flowers in the microwave without the lid.
- Refer to a microwave drying time chart to determine the heating time for specific flowers.
- Determine if flowers are dry by using a toothpick to check for crispness.
- Leave flowers in the desiccant overnight to cool, then carefully uncover and lift them out. Store them carefully if not using them right away.
More information about the author:
