Receiving fresh flowers from your beloved is always a fleeting joy. If you want to preserve them, you can transform them into dried flowers. Let’s learn how to make dried flowers together.
Generally, fresh flowers with high water content, like balloon flowers, arums, and lilies, aren’t ideal for drying. They’re prone to mold and hard to air-dry. Though they’re not impossible to use, meeting the requirements for dried flowers is more challenging.
Flowers suitable for drying often have lower water content. Examples include roses, Chinese roses, forget-me-nots, gypsophilas, celosias, barley, oats, wheat, cockscombs, lavender, eucalyptus, daisies, carnations, strawflowers, globe amaranth, wormwoods, artemisia, violets, wild roses, and alliums.
Other materials like lovegrass, dried prunus, reed, cattail, eryngiums, willows, baby’s breath, and eucalyptus should be kept out of direct sunlight.
Sunflower seeds, thistles, tree seeds, crape myrtle fruit, sesame, sorghum, lotus heads, reed flowers, and pussy willows also make excellent rustic dried flower materials and display better when hung in a place with sunlight.
Dried flowers are blooms sourced from plants, shrubs, and trees, then dried and preserved in a specific manner.
They can last up to a year, far longer than fresh flowers, which typically last around ten days. When displayed in your home, they evoke an atmosphere akin to a field or local natural scenery. They also lend a whimsical, playful touch.
In terms of use, dried flowers have a wider range than fresh ones. Aside from long-lasting decorations, they can also be used in cooking, cleaning, gift-giving, candle-making, and filling sachets. If dyed, they can last even longer.
You may be surprised to learn that dried flowers have several benefits. Beyond beauty and luxury, there are four key advantages:
Longevity: With proper storage and care, dried flowers can last several months to over a year.
Low Maintenance: Unlike fresh plants or potted ones, dried flowers require almost no maintenance. You don’t need to water them, but you do need to protect them from damage.
Value for Money: Dried flowers may cost more than fresh ones. However, as they last longer and don’t require much upkeep, they’re more cost-effective in the long run.
Sustainable Solution: Since dried flowers are natural, they don’t pose harm to the environment when decomposing. They also help reduce waste compared to fresh flowers that you would typically discard.
The common rose is an excellent choice for dried flowers. When using roses, select semi-open blooms, as fully open or unopened ones can affect the quality of the dried flowers. Afterwards, tie the stems with a string, hang upside down to dry.
Baby’s breath proliferates in star-like flowers and is a classic long-day plant. Its delicate, fluffy, and lightweight white flowers make it a frequent auxiliary material in floral art. They’re great for filling space due to their understated appearance.
Bundling them as the primary flower in a vase can immediately create a relaxed and lively atmosphere. They can also be made into pressed dried flowers after natural air-drying.
Y
ou may not be familiar with ‘forget-me-nots,’ but they’re perfect for dried flowers due to their low water content and long viewing period.
Also known as Buddha flowers, proteas are renowned as some of the world’s most luxurious cut flowers. They represent vitality, victory, fulfillment, and luck.
Originally from South Africa, climate and environment can affect protea leaves, flower shapes, colors, and blooming periods. They can be planted in gardens or pots, used as excellent cut flowers, or made into dried flowers. Dried proteas have an artistic flair.
Eucalyptus leaves are versatile, especially suitable for ‘minimalistic’ spaces. Their high saturation of color lends a sense of sophistication. When dried, their color slightly fades, making them ideal for pairing with ceramic or glass vases.
Additionally, eucalyptus seeds are also excellent “floral materials” for making dried flowers.
Commonly known as Billy Balls, Craspedia is often used as a complement in bridal bouquets and is a common dried flower. The stems are quite weak, so they need to be hung up to dry.
Gomphrena, also known as globe amaranth, is named for its long-lasting color once dried, making it highly valued for decoration. If you’re making dried flowers, don’t forget Gomphrena.
Also known as “goldenrod,” it’s native to Australia and is an excellent material for natural dried flowers.
Its round and pleasing shape, along with its vibrant color, is frequently used in weddings for bouquets, table decorations, bridal hair accessories, and groom boutonnieres. When dried, it retains its attractive color.
Lavender is a spice plant with high economic and ornamental value. Its unique scent makes it one of the world’s most popular herbs. Known for its charming purple color and refreshing fragrance, lavender’s scent can stabilize emotions, relieve stress, and invigorate the spirit.
Apart from its medicinal value, lavender is also excellent for making dried flowers, which can be preserved by hanging upside down to dry. Placed in a bedroom, it’s not only beautiful but can also help calm and promote sleep.
Forget-me-nots are perfect for making dried flowers. You can directly put them in a vase without adding water. On the contrary, adding water can shorten the life of the flowers.
The most common colors on the market are purple, pink, and white, and they are great for gift packaging, dried flower bouquets, and home decoration.
Also known as “dancing grass,” it’s often used as filler in flower arrangements. It remains colorful and fragrant throughout the seasons. The common colors are purple, pink, and white. Its unique flower shape is actually a bunch of tiny flowers, very cute, and it does not fade or wilt, making it very easy to make into dried flowers.
Speaking of cotton, it can be considered a rising star in home decoration in recent years.
Even if the stems are dry and yellow, the cotton balls still look white and full, naturally bringing a sense of tranquil beauty. It’s very versatile in arrangements: wedding bouquets, boutonnieres, home decoration, and more.
The process of creating dried flowers primarily involves the drying of plant material. This is essentially a dehydration process of the floral material that should commence soon after the plants are harvested. There are several drying methods used worldwide, each with its unique characteristics.
(1) Natural Drying Method
The natural drying method eliminates the moisture in the plant material through natural air circulation. It’s the most rudimentary and simplest drying method, though it can be time-consuming.
It’s best suited for plants with high fiber content, low moisture, small floral patterns, and short stems.
Depending on the placement of the plant material, the natural drying method can further be divided into hanging drying, flat drying, and upright drying.
(2) Forced Drying Method
There are several common techniques for the forced drying method. One of these involves mildly heating the plant material to disrupt its internal protoplasmic structure, thereby accelerating the evaporation of moisture.
This method offers better drying results than the natural drying method, with common methods including oven drying, flower drying machines, and microwave drying.
Microwave drying not only speeds up the process but also better preserves the shape and color of the flowers. However, careful consideration should be taken when choosing this method.
(3) Low-temperature Drying Method
The low-temperature drying method is a type of forced drying using dry cold air ranging from 0-10°C as a drying medium. While this method can preserve color well, it is demanding and time-consuming, thus it’s not commonly used.
(4) Vacuum Drying Method
The vacuum drying method involves using depressurized air as a drying medium. Plant material is placed in a sealed container from which a certain degree of vacuum is extracted, causing the moisture within the plant material to rapidly evaporate or sublimate, thus drying it. This method is exclusively used in the production of everlasting flowers.
(5) Press Drying Method
The press drying method, often used in creating flat-pressed flowers, involves applying appropriate pressure to the plant material to preserve its flat form. Traditional press drying methods include stone pressing and specimen clamp pressing, with care taken to apply the right amount of pressure.
(6) Buried Drying Method
The buried drying method uses granulated materials to bury and dry the floral material. It’s suitable for drying large flowers with high water content, such as roses and peonies. Commonly used granulated materials include silica gel, table salt, and river sand.
(7) Liquid Drying Method
The liquid drying method treats plant material with organic liquids that have moisture-absorbing but non-volatile properties. The flowers dried using this method have a good luster and a soft texture due to the liquids’ ability to replace and retain moisture. However, in high-temperature environments, the liquid may seep out, leading to mold and a darkening of the flower’s color. Glycerin and formalin are commonly used liquids. Since each drying method has its advantages and disadvantages, it’s often necessary to judiciously use a combination of methods to achieve the best drying results.
Peggie was once a high school mathematics teacher, but she set aside her chalkboard and textbooks to follow her lifelong passion for flowers. After years of dedication and learning, she not only established a thriving flower shop but also founded this blog, “Flowers Library”. If you have any questions or wish to learn more about flowers, feel free to contact Peggie.
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