Cut Flowers All Year Long- Dried Flower Garden

I love giving away flowers, and last week my neighbor had a birthday and I so badly wanted to give her some home grown flowers. The options for beautiful flowers in my small town are sadly very limited. I also want to have dried flowers to craft with and decorate my house with in the winter months. All these reasons are why I am focusing on growing a dried flowers garden this summer.

Plans For My Dried Flower Garden

I focused on flowers that really keep their color and shape after being dried. It’s fun to experiment with drying flowers, but I want some tried and true flowers to rely on. My list this year is

Statice

Strawflowers

Gomphrena

Flamingo feather celosia

Yarrow

Violets- For pressed flowers
In my landscape I have other flowers I can use if I want to like cosmos, zinnias, sweet peas, scabiosas, and lavender but they are not going to be my focus. I am picking these flowers because they are easy to grow in my hot desert climate, and I really like the color of these flowers that I think will still be vibrant after drying. I can also use these flowers for fresh bouquets as well as drying.

Other Dried Flowers You Might Like

There are so many flowers to dry, so just because I am not doing it doesn’t mean you should. Do what is going to bring you joy. Some others you might like are

Roses

Baby’s breath

Eucalyptus

These flowers are great too because you can often find them at a grocery store, so if you are unable or do not want to grow your dried flowers you can purchase flowers and dry them yourself. This would also be a good test to see if you like it before jumping into growing lots of flowers. No one wants to waste money or let flowers dry! If you don’t see a flower on my list, try it anyway! This last year I dried ranunculus and although they didn’t keep their shape very well I have loved having them this winter.

When to Harvest

Unlike harvesting most cut flowers where you harvest most when right before the flower fully blooms you will harvest flowers for drying when the flower is in full bloom. Leave enough of a stem for hanging and give you extra length if you want to put it in a vase after the flower dries. If you have any flowers that are too open to have any length of vase life, instead of letting the flower die you can still cut them and use them for dried flowers. Just remember that a flower isn’t going to look any better after you dry it. If there is a damaged spot or discolorations it will still be there after it is dried.

How to Dry

There are three main ways to dry flowers- air dried, pressed, or dried with silica beads. Depending on what you want to use your dried flowers or the type of flower will determine what method is best.

Air Dried- The easiest! All you do is cut your flowers, leaving a long stem, bunch the flowers together with a string or rubber band, and hang upside down in a dry, dark place. You will want to stagger the flowers so they are not smashing together because they will dry in the shape and you won’t be able to fix it once they are dried. The list of great air dried flowers is above. Cons for this method is the flowers don’t always keep their shape or color, so it is important to use flowers that are tried and true.

Pressed Flowers- Harvest these flowers when they do not have any dew or water on the petals. Lay the flowers in between two pieces of parchment paper and then place the parchment paper and flowers in a flower press, or in the middle of a heavy book. Flowers that have few and thin petals are best for pressing such as violets, cosmos, and single petal zinnias. Cons to pressed flowers is you only get one shape…flat. It is also very difficult to press flowers with a lot of petals or large centers.

Silica Beads- Also very easy. Get Tupperware and silica beads (I bought mine from amazon). Make a layer of silica beads on the bottom of the Tupperware, gently place the flowers, gently cover the flowers with silica beads. Using silica beads is the best way for flowers to keep their color and shape. The shape and color are almost identical to the fresh version as it is the dried version. The con is they are extremely delicate after drying this way and you have to cut the stem off for drying. You can add a fake stem with hot glue, but to me it’s not the same.

What to Use Dried Flowers For?

The Sky’s the limit, but you can use dried flowers for bouquets, homemade cards, pressed onto pumpkins, Christmas ornaments, and framed for decorations. A quick pinterest search and you will find countless options. You can see my dried flower boutonniere for Christmas here or my dried flower Christmas Ornaments here.

How Long Will Dried Flowers Last?

Dried Flowers will last for years as long as they stay dried. If you live in a humid climate, put the flowers in a bathroom, or kitchen that regularly gets humid they could mold and go bad. Dried Flowers can also fade if they are in direct sunlight. As long as they are dry and out of direct sunlight your dried flowers will last a very very long time.

Conclusion

I’m so excited for my garden this year and I hope you will join me in my dried flower garden this year. I also hope are inspired to grow flowers this year. Have I convinced you to grow dry flowers this year? Leave in the comments below!