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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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?!