How to Dry Flowers From Your Garden

I have reached that point in the season where I am VERY ready to be done. 😂

I love my garden. I love my flowers. I love growing them, cutting them, arranging them, and talking about them.

But by September? I'm tired.

There is something about fall that makes me ready to start cleaning everything up, put the garden to bed, and settle into a slower season.

And then winter comes.

And I miss my flowers. 😂

Which is one of the reasons I love dried flowers so much.

Some flowers are called “everlasting flowers” because they dry beautifully and can last for years. It's basically a way of saving a little piece of your summer garden to enjoy when everything outside is brown, frozen, and covered in snow.

And drying flowers is REALLY easy.

Gomphrena is my favorite flower for drying. It comes in pink, white, and red.

How I Dry Flowers

The biggest thing is to harvest your flowers at the right time. I like to cut in the morning after the dew has dried, but before it gets hot.

Every flower is a little different, but generally, don't wait until the flower is old and completely open. You want to catch it while it still looks fresh and beautiful.

Then:

Strip off the leaves. You don't need all that foliage on there while they're drying.
Make small bundles. I usually bundle about 10 stems together and secure them with a rubber band or string. Don't make your bundles enormous because you want plenty of airflow around the flowers.
Hang them upside down. Find somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight. A closet, pantry, garage, or attic can work. You basically want somewhere dark, dry, and with decent airflow.
Forget about them for a couple of weeks. 😂 Usually within 2–3 weeks, they're completely dry.

That's it!

A Little Strawflower Warning

Strawflowers are AMAZING dried flowers, but their stems can be annoyingly fragile.

You can dry them on the stem, but if you're planning to arrange with them later, you can also pop the flower head off and replace the stem with floral wire.

And yes, it feels a little weird the first time you purposely pull the head off a perfectly good flower. 😂

Another Easy Drying Method

Some flowers actually dry really well standing upright in a vase.

I especially like this method for things like hydrangeas, yarrow, celosia, and Bells of Ireland.

Put a small amount of water in the vase, add your flowers, and then just leave them alone.

Seriously. That's the method. 😂

The flowers slowly dry as the water evaporates.

My Favorite Flowers to Dry

Technically, you can try drying almost anything.

Whether you're going to like what comes out the other side is a different story. 😂

Usually, flowers that already feel a little papery or stiff are your best bet.

Some of my favorites are:

Strawflower
Statice
Gomphrena
Celosia
Amaranth
Hydrangea
Yarrow
Eryngium
Craspedia
Lavender
Grasses and seed heads
Poppy pods
Nigella pods
Scabiosa pods
Lunaria
Baby's breath
Ammi and Dara

And don't forget foliage! Eucalyptus is one of my favorites because it dries beautifully and is so easy to use later.

What Do You Do With All These Dried Flowers?

This is the fun part.

Make bouquets. Fill little vases. Make wreaths. Add them to Christmas decorations. Use them for crafts with the kids. Or just tuck a few stems into places around your house.

I'm also using dried flowers in something I'm REALLY excited about this year: my dried flower amaryllis gardens.

I love the idea of taking flowers that grew here during the summer and using them with amaryllis during the winter. It's a little bit of one growing season meeting the next.

So before you rip everything out of your garden this fall, take another look around.

There might be a whole winter's worth of flowers still standing out there.

And when it's February in Michigan and you haven't seen anything growing outside in months, you'll be very glad you saved them. 😂

How to Dry Flowers From Your Garden