Whether you have a special, sentimental bouquet of flowers or simply want to adorn your home with lasting floral beauty, you can preserve flowers by drying them. Our Pueblo florists at Campbell’s Flowers recommend drying flowers over pressing them because drying works well for all types of flowers, but pressing is only a good option for thinner, flat-faced blooms.

Bouquet of Dried Roses

How to Dry a Bouquet of Flowers in 5 Simple Steps

1. Start drying your flowers before they begin to wilt. For heavier blooms, like roses, it’s best to begin the drying process before the blooms have opened up completely.
2. Prepare your flowers for drying by first removing the leaves, which can introduce bacteria to the plants and become extremely brittle after drying.
3. Choose a drying method: air dry, oven dry, microwave dry, or dehydrate.
4. Dry Flowers with any of the following methods:
   

   Hanging Dried Flowers

• Flowers can be hung upside down to air dry, by tying them with string. Air drying usually provides the best results, but requires several days before the flowers will be ready.
• Flowers can be dried in the oven. Bake them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet in low-heat inside the oven with the door cracked. Check on them over the next eight to twelve hours, until they’re totally dry.
• You can also dry flowers in the microwave in minutes, if you have the right supplies. You’ll need a microwave-safe container and silica sand. Trim flowers to size and cover them completely with silica sand. Put the container in the microwave, along with a cup of water. Blast your flowers in 30-second intervals, checking between each. Most flowers will be ready in just two or three minutes.
• If you have a kitchen dehydrator, you can use it to dehydrate flowers as well as foods. Arrange your flowers in the dehydrator so that they do not overlap. Set the appliance to 100-degrees and allow the flowers to dehydrate for several hours.
  

  Dried Pink Roses

5. Check that flowers are completely dry by gently feeling their texture. Flowers with no remaining moisture will have a similar texture to tissue paper.

How to Care for Your Dried Flowers

Liquid Lavender Bouquet

Once your lovely bouquet of flowers is completely dried, there are a few things you should know that will make them last even longer. Moisture and sunlight are the top enemies of dried flowers. Moisture can cause the flowers to rot, and sunlight will break down their pigments, causing them to fade. To protect yours from both elements, apply a few coats of hairspray. Be sure to spritz from far enough away that the hairspray applies evenly and the force from the aerosol can won’t damage them. Then be sure to display them in a location where they won’t be baked by the sun or exposed to excess moisture, such as near a window or near a shower.

Bouquet of Dried Flowers in Glass Vase

For more flower drying advice or personalized recommendations on the best flowers and bouquets for drying, we welcome you to stop by Campbell’s Flowers.