How to Dry Flowers
I love flowers, when they’re nice and fresh…and pretty……..and alive. When they start slumping over, it makes me want to slump over too. It’s soooooooooo depressing when they start dying. Most of the time I just dump them straight in the trash to avoid a complete depression but sometimes I’ll just dry them out to make potpourri.
Did I just spell that right? Potporrie…potpourrie? I know it has a T in it.
The first time I ever dried a flower, I was as sappy then as I am now. Imagine a 12 year old, hormonal, cry at the drop of a hat – pre-teen girl. That was me. My grandma had passed and I wanted to keep a rose from the service. My mom showed me how to dry flowers, and now that same dried flower from Grandma’s service is in a box with some other keepsakes upstairs….20 some odd years later.
Okayyyyy….25 years later. Sheesh. Excuse me while I lather some wrinkle cream all over my face.
It’s so easy to do. I’ve got a dozen roses that my sweet feller bought me for Valentine’s Day. The day that they slumped (they were as dead as a door nail), I instantly yanked them out of their pretty vase and hung them to dry. I’m planning to make potpourri with them and they’re now hanging in my closet.
Oh yeah – I googled ‘potpourri’ and I did spell it right! Booyah!
Other people like to craft with dried flowers, some like to decorate with them. But me, I like potpourri. Now that I know I spelled it right, I can’t quit saying it. Po-purr-eeeeee!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Your dead-as-a-door-nail-flowers
- Paper Towels
- Scissors (or knife)
- String
- Plastic Clothes Hangers
Here’s How to Dry Flowers:
- Take flowers out of the vase and dry stems really well with paper towels.
- Cut off any thorns with scissors or knife. {I’m acting like your mother here….PLEASE don’t cut yourself!}
- Remove dead leaves from the stems.
- Cut one string for each flower. Cut the strings to about 7-10 inches in length.
- Tie string to stem (upside down), then tie the flower to the bottom of a clothes hanger. You can hang several flowers from one hanger, you just don’t want them touching. Make sure they’re hanging upside down.
- Place hanger(s) in a dim and dry spot. Closets are great. Somewhere with no humidity.
- It may take 2-6 weeks before they’re completely dry.
The lighting is bad, but I just snapped this photo of these roses hanging from a hanger in my closet. I pulled it out of the closet and hung it on the closet door so there’d be enough light just for the photo, then I put them right back in the dark.
TIP: If you hang them in a closet, just make sure they’re not touching clothes or anything else. There are a couple of reasons for that. First – you don’t want the color of the flowers bleeding onto any clothes. Secondly, you may want to retain the shape of the flower. If it’s bumped up against something, it can flatten or mishape the flower.
TIP: Whatever you use them for, make sure that they’re placed away from humid spaces (even after they’re dry) because they can hold moisture and mold. You don’t want that…yuck!
TIP: Keep away from sunlight (even around windows) because the sun can and will fade the color of the flowers.
What’s your favorite way to use dried flowers? Do you craft with them, make potpourri, decorate with them? Let us know!!! We’d love to hear about it.
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Jenni
Jenni here! I'm the owner and primary blogger here at Sweet Pennies from Heaven. Married to my better half for 17 years and mom to one awesome little boy. We have 2 dogs, Pepper and Izzy. My favorite thing to do is nap. I love sweets and coffee. Sweet coffee.
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the chick behind this blog! I'm your ordinary, everyday wife and mom to an incredible pair of stinky guys! I am a self diagnosed coffee addict with a ginormous sweet tooth, preferably baked goods!! My hope is to help you, teach you, and entertain you on your way to a more thrifty and frugal lifestyle! Along the way, you'll find awesome recipes, great tips, and tons of randomness! We have loads of fun, so ya'll come back now, ya hear?!
My mom and I have done this but to make them shiny we sprayed they lightly with Hair Spray. They are still in perfect condition today and in a vase in our cabinet.
Great post. This is how I dry flowers too. I still have the flowers my fiance gave me from our first Valentine’s two years ago dried out perfectly using this method.
This is great to know. I love the look of dried flowers, but I didn’t realize it was something I could do myself at home.
I love this idea of drying flowers. I have seen them dried but never knew how it was done. Thank you so much. I am going to try this.
Great tutorial. I had my wedding bouquet done (by a friend) and had it for a few years on display in our house. It always made me smile!
I always wondered how people dried out the flowers that they used. Now I know, thanks for teaching me something new 🙂
I have a great post about making your wedding bouquet into potpourri. I say we link up to each other and send traffic back and forth! 🙂
Hey Lindsey! That sounds like a plan! Shoot me an email or PM on Facebook and we can definitely trade links.
I use to dry flowers when I was younger. I did not use them for anything, LOL, but I dried them! I never thought to make potpourri with them!
I almost always dry the roses I get as gifts… but I never end up doing anything with them, and they get thrown away!
Thank you for the tutorial! I never would have thought of this!
I have a wine bottle full of dried roses from when my husband and I were first dating. I used this same method to dry mine- it works really well!
Your post made me lol..pretty funny! Anyhow, I still have my wedding flowers, and dare I say prom flowers?! Haha!
I never thought about drying flowers. It sounds super easy though. I wish I had done some from my wedding!
I always hung my daughter’s corsages upside down to dry for her memory box. I never thought about potpourri though. I like it!
I have never dried flowers before. I would love to do this for my next project.
I have dried flowers before. I am a sappy girl too. I had to save some from my dances, my dance recital, my daughters dance recital, her cheer competition LOL. Yep I am sappy 🙂
I haven’t dried flowers in ages, oh wait, I haven’t received flowers in ages. Thanks for the tutorial on how to dry flowers to use for such things. My daughter and I should do this!
I have two roses hanging from a hanger in my bedroom right now from my Valentine’s Day flowers. Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with them.
What a good idea. I’ve dried flowers out for things, but it’s been years and I forgot about it all together until I read your post. 🙂
Dried flowers are so decorative. They give that vintage look that is so chic! I currently don’t have any at home, but this post has helped me re create them.
I have dried flowers by hanging them upside down too, but not as in depth as your method. I’ll have to give it a try!
Thanks for the tips. It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve dried flowers.
I’ve never dried flowers, but I always wanted to! I used to save them in books but would forget about them!
Well that just puts my method of smashing them in a book to shame. Thanks for sharing!
Oh dear! I wish I had seen this last week! I had gotten fresh flowers and didn’t have a clue as to how to dry them. This was such a clear and doable tutorial. Thanks!
Great DIY Tutorial. I had no idea they needed to be hung upside down.
Great tips! Thank you so much. And this way they will retain their perfume 🙂
I dry lots of flowers – davey thinks it looks a little spooky with all of the flowers hanging!
I picked up a few tips from you today. I dry flowers occasionally but not in the careful way your showed us. TY!
I have a bowl of dried flowers, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with them. Potpourri would be wonderful in my small office space. I only wish I knew how to properly dry flowers back when I got married, so I could have done something neat with my bouquet.
I am glad I read this post. I have wanted to learn how to dry flowers for quite a while.
My new daughter in law said, on her way to their honeymoon, please preserve these for me while I am gone. But how? Your ideas have helped. Sure hope they work or I might be on a list I don’t want to be on.