Petals & Roots: How I Dry Flowers – and Design With Them Naturally and Beautifully
Drying flowers is a simple, unhurried way to preserve the beauty of your garden
In these bare winter months, I am often found scrolling through my phone reminiscing about all the stunning fresh flowers I grew last year. At a time when these treasures are sparse, dried flowers can be a more-than-adequate substitute.
Dried blooms make a thoughtful homemade gift, and unlike their fresh counterparts, are everlasting. Five years ago, when I was a full-time floral designer, I ran an online dried flower boutique, so I know exactly how to care for and design with these delicate stems.
The Beauty of Dried Flowers
What I love most about dried flowers is how forgiving they are. There’s no race against the clock, no concern about water levels or wilting stems.
Instead, decorating with dried flowers invites you to work more instinctively, focusing on shape, balance and negative space.
Stems that might feel too stiff or sculptural in fresh arrangements often come into their own once dried, offering a softer, more considered kind of beauty.
How to Dry Flowers
I love ranunculus, and I unexpectedly discovered a few years ago that this is one of the best flowers to grow for drying.
My fail-safe method is to put no more than five stems together in a bunch, tie the stems together with natural twine, just like this from Amazon, and hang them upside down in a warm, dry and dark place.
An airing cupboard is ideal, or a very dry garden shed. (I have been known to tie them to the banister at the top of my staircase before, and it worked just fine).
The key is airflow; if you don’t let air circulate around them, that’s when they can go moldy and brown. Try not to pack them together too tightly, or have too many stems in one bunch.
You’ll need to leave them for around four to six weeks to make sure they have dried out completely, and will then retain their shape and color.
How to Create a Dried Flower Design
I chose to create this table design with mis-matched, vintage style bud vases, just like this stunning selection of bud vases from Amazon.
Once you have three or more of these vase arrangements, you have an instant display. It's so simple to create it will feel effortless.
You might want to opt for something a little more modern, such as these ceramic white bud vases from Amazon, which I also love for their simplicity and elegance.
For the flowers we want a lovely mix of larger, more focal dried blooms and those beautiful detailed accents.
I’ll start by adding some focal strawflowers into my vase. Dried flowers are naturally going to be more brittle than their fresh counterparts, so taking your time to place them gently will prevent any stems from snapping.
For this kind of design, I add each flower variety in one go, rather than going back and forth between stem types. I find it easier to arrange in this way, but there are no rules!
Next I’m adding a few stems of coral pink globe amaranth, which I love for its shape and color. The larger dried flowers look good towards the base or center of an arrangement, while the more delicate stems can float above them.
I’m adding light and airy dried limonium next, and I'm placing in taller stems so they can dance above the more focal flowers.
For a change in texture, it's time to add seedpods. I start with poppy pods, and I also add in several scabious seed pods (one of the best plants for seedheads), which I adore for their delicate yet intricate form.
The great thing about dried designs is you can think outside the box in terms of your materials. I found some dried pink peppercorns leftover from my holiday wreaths, so I added some into these vases as they tone so well with the pink of the globe amaranth.
As a final touch, let’s add some bunny tail grasses for that playful element. You can leave these long to create some height if you want to.
From choosing the right stems to creating a relaxed, lasting arrangement, I hope this guide inspires you and shows you how drying flowers for your home can become a natural extension of the garden.
Your Dried Flower Design Kit
Petals & Roots is a weekly video series fronted by me, Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at Homes & Gardens. Every weekend on social, I share my seasonal gardening and flower arranging expertise and advice.
