How to dry flowers

Drying flowers is quite a time consuming but rewarding process. There are many different ways to dry or preserve flowers, such as glycerin, sand or silica. We are going to talk through air drying in this post but if you want to know about the others let us know.

If you are picking the flowers your self, aim for later in the day when the dew has evaporated, around 11 am is usually a good time. Cut your stems as long as you can and begin removing any leaves you do not want. You don’t have to do this stage now but leaves don’t dry well and can reduce the air flow, increasing the chance of your stems getting mouldy while drying.

When is a flower ready to be picked?

Pick flowers for drying when they look their best and have the most colour. If you are picking seed heads, aim for when the seed head is still partially green. If left too long, the seed will become loose, as it wants to drop and make new plants, and so that can become pretty messy back in the house!

Once you have prepped the stems, you want to begin bundling them together, staggering the flower heads so that they don’t get squashed. Tie the stems together with an elastic band. This works best because, as the stems dry, they shrink and the band will adjust with it, saving you from falling stems.

Hang these upside down in a dry place with good air flow and away from direct sun. We use the boiler cupboard initially as it has a slatted door. Once they have dried completely, we store them in boxes with good air flow still.

Some flowers take a few days and some take a couple of weeks.

To learn more about how to care for your dry flowers see our next blog.