If you love flowers, but don’t love that they wilt in a week, then I am right there with you! I am a plant-lover through and through because they don’t inevitably die. However, I’ve grown an appreciation for flowers over the years because they offer so many beautiful colors. If you don’t want your flowers wilting and dying, then I recommend you experiment with drying them.
Reasons to dry flowers
- Flowers often hold special memories and drying them is a way to keep them forever. Having a wedding? Dry a few of the flowers from your bouquet. Did your spouse give you a beautiful bouquet that you don’t ever want to wilt away? Dry a few of the flowers to keep. The list goes on.
- Dried flowers are permanent home decor.
- They add color, texture, and a touch of nature to your home.
How to dry flowers:
- Enjoy your flowers being in their vase, but instead of waiting for them to fully die, take them out to dry them just before they start wilting.
- Separate the flowers from each other.
- Remove the leaves if desired. They don’t always look good dried, however some still look great dried, so an option is to leave the leaves on and if they look bad after they’ve dried, then you can pluck them off. Ultimately, it’s personal preference on if you want the leaves or not.
- Hang the flowers upside down, separate from each other. I use pant hangers for this.
- Put them in a dark closet. Keeping them in a dark place is important for preserving their color during the drying process.
- Leave them for 2-3 weeks.
- Once they are fully dried, remove them from the hangers and alter them how you desire. If the leaves look bad, then you can pluck them off. If you want the stems shorter, then you can cut them shorter.
How to decorate with dried flowers:
I absolutely love decorating, and using dried flowers is such a special way to decorate because the flowers are beautiful, colorful, and often hold precious memories. You have tons of options, and I encourage you to get creative!
- Put them in cute vases, pottery, etc.
- Put them in baskets (Baby’s Breath is specifically great for this). It’s fun to find baskets from antique stores.
- Press them during the drying process so you can laminate them and use them as a bookmark. To do this: 1. Open a book and cover a page with tissues, newspaper, parchment paper, or wax paper.. 2. Arrange your flowers so that they aren’t too close to each other. 3. Cover the flowers with more tissues, newspaper, etc. and close the book 5. Place the flower-press book under something heavy, like other books or a cement block, so it can keep even pressure on the flowers. 6. In a couple weeks, your flowers should be done (depending on the water content of the flower) and you can remove them from the book and use as desired.
