When you have an exceptionally beautiful floral arrangement or sentimentally significant flowers, like a bridal bouquet or anniversary gift, it’s hard to say goodbye. If you know how to dry flowers, however, you never have to part ways with your loveliest bouquets. At McNamara Florist, our florists want you to be able to enjoy your floral arrangements and bouquets for as long as your heart desires, so we’ve put together this quick and simple guide on everything you need to know about drying flowers.
The Number-One Way to Dry Flowers
Hanging Dried Flowers
There are a lot of flower-drying techniques out there, but the best by far is actually the most traditional: air drying. You should start air drying flowers while they’re still fresh and before the blooms have opened up completely, as this will result in stronger drying results.
To start, trim away leaves, which can potentially introduce harmful bacteria to the flowers during the drying process. Gather their stems and tie them together with string. Using the tail end of the string, hang the flowers in an upside-down position in a warm, dark room. It’s best to hang them in a place where they can hang freely and not have one side or another pressed up against a wall.
Dried Pink Roses
It’s essential that you give your flowers enough time to dry completely. Otherwise, remaining moisture will cause them to rot. When air drying, flowers might need anywhere from several days to a few weeks to dry completely, depending on the weather and type of flowers drying.
Although air drying requires patience, the results are well worth the wait. Air-dried flowers keep their vibrant colors and, hanging upside down, they dry into the most lifelike postures.
How to Maintain and Care for Your Dried Flowers
Dried Flowers in a Vase
Dried flowers no longer need water and sunlight. In fact, these are the two worst things for them. Direct sun will fade their colors and moisture can cause them to rot. We recommend displaying flowers in a place where they won’t get blasted with morning sunlight or be exposed to too much humidity, like near a bathroom with a shower.
To further fortify your flowers against the elements and strengthen their delicate structures, you can also give them a few coats of unscented hairspray. Just be sure to spray from a great enough distance that the force of the spray doesn’t damage your dried flowers.
Be sure to keep your flowers dust and cobweb-free so that they stay beautiful and never look shabby or dirty. You can easily and gently dust flowers with a gentle breeze from a regular hairdryer. Turn it to its lowest power setting and make sure it’s set to cool or no-heat before dusting.
The Best Flowers for Drying
Victorian Romance
One of the main reasons we recommend drying, rather than pressing, flowers is that it works well for all types of blooms and mixed bouquets. Some flowers, however, dry more vibrantly than others. Some of our favorite dried flowers include brightly colored statice, celosia, strawflower, larkspur, and lavender.
For more information about preserving your special flowers or for help selecting a bouquet to dry, we welcome you to stop by McNamara Florist any time!
