Drying Flowers at Home: What Works and What Doesn't

We dry a lot of flowers in the studio every August and September, ready for autumn and winter arrangements. Most of it is straightforward, but there are a few things that make the difference between flowers that dry beautifully and flowers that go mouldy or lose their colour. Here's what we've found works.

Which flowers dry well ¶

The easiest flowers to dry are the ones with low moisture content to begin with: strawflower, statice, lavender, honesty, and most grasses. These can be hung and forgotten about for a few weeks and they'll come out looking good.

Roses dry reasonably well if you pick them just before they're fully open and dry them quickly in a warm, dry room. Dahlias are more difficult. They have a lot of moisture in the petals and can go papery or mouldy. We've had good results with smaller-headed varieties dried in silica gel rather than hung, but it's more work.

Flowers that don't dry well: anything with very fleshy petals (tulips, most lilies), anything that's already fully open when you pick it, and anything that's been in water for more than a day or two before you try to dry it.

How to hang them ¶

Strip the lower leaves, tie the stems in small bunches (five to eight stems), and hang them upside down in a warm, dry, dark place. Darkness helps preserve colour. Good airflow is more important than warmth. A warm, still room will dry flowers but can also encourage mould if the bunches are too dense.

The studio rafters work well for us because there's good airflow and it's dark when the lights are off. A dry cupboard with the door left ajar works at home. Avoid bathrooms and kitchens. The humidity is too high.

What to do with them once they're dry ¶

Dried flowers are more fragile than fresh ones, so handle them gently. They work well in wreaths, in loose bunches in a vase without water, or wired into arrangements. They don't need any maintenance beyond an occasional gentle dust with a soft brush.

They'll last a long time in a dry room away from direct sunlight. Direct sun fades the colour over a few months. A north-facing room or a shaded shelf is ideal.

If you'd rather buy dried arrangements than make them, we have dried autumn wreaths in the studio through October and November. Each one is slightly different.