How to dry and preserve your flower bouquet?

Do you have a flower bouquet you would like to hold onto for a lifetime? Good news! You can with these easy preserving techniques you can do at home. This way, you’ll be able to enjoy your special memories for many years to come with your dry flower bouquet. To get started, we have a guide that shows you how to dry flowers at home.

As I am sure you all know flowers need to be in water to remain fresh. But if you want to preserve flower

What are the best flowers for drying?

Flowers that are flat, strong and have multiple layers are generally easier to dry.

Some examples of flowers that are ideal for drying include:

  • Hydrangeas
  • Amaranthus
  • Roses
  • celosia (cockscomb)
  • Daisies
  • Orchids
  • Delphinium
  • Chrysanthemums 
  • Eucalyptus
  • Carnations
  • Lisianthus
  • strawflower
  • Statice
  • Thistle

How to dry flowers from your garden

  1. Cut flowers from your garden in the early morning before the flower blooms open. Make sure you cut around 15 – 20 cm stem.
  2. We recommend using sturdy flowers that have less water content, such as celosia. Flowers with a low water content are more likely to keep all their petals during the drying process.
  3. Aim to use as many flowers as you can as some may get lost when drying.
  4. Remove all the leaves from the stems.
  5. Put them in bundles of 8 to 10 stems.
  6. Make sure you’re not denting or creasing any of the flowers. 
  7. Tie them together with a rubber band.
  8. Hang the bundle upside down in a dark, and well-ventilated area out of sunlight.
  9. The flowers should dry in around 2 – 3 weeks – even less if it is a hot period of time.

Flowers with thin stems, like strawflowers, will need wiring because their stems crumble when dried. Make sure you wire them with floristry wire before drying.

PRESSING FLOWERS

Pressed flowers are a good idea as you can turn them into many DIY craft projects if you are into that sort of thing. To make pressed flowers, you can purchase a flower press kit, otherwise you will need:

  • Baking paper
  • A heavy and flat object

To learn how to dry out flowers using the pressed method you need to:

  1. Choose flat flowers: When using the pressing technique, we recommend choosing flat flowers or flowers with thick petals such as orchids, pansies or cosmos. 
  2. Put your flowers on the baking paper and place another sheet of paper on top of the flowers. 
  3. Press the flowers by placing a heavy and flat object on top. Then, gently press down. Leave the heavy object on top and leave the flowers to dry in a dry, dark and warm area. 
  4. After 6 – 8 days, replace the baking paper with a new sheet of baking paper. Be very careful as the flowers will be very delicate at this point.
  5. Every week replace the paper. This process can take up to a month.

Other methods of drying include using silica gel, paraffin wax, and using resin. These are a bit more complex and require specialised equipment.

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