Poor Richard’s Almanac

Drying flowers. May 11, 2010

Silence Dogood here. Our next-door neighbor just sent me an e-mail asking for help. A friend of hers just unexpectedly lost her husband. The family received lots of flower arrangements, and the oldest son wanted to try to preserve some of the flowers in memory of his dad. Did I have any idea how to do that?

Why, yes. There are six ways to dry flowers. Four are cheap and low-effort. One is cheap and fast, but not always reliable. And the sixth is extremely effective but neither cheap nor permanent. Let’s start with cheap and low-effort.

Hanging: If you want to keep the stems so you can display the flowers in a vase, one way to dry flowers with heavy blooms like roses or peonies is to rubber-band the stems in a bunch and hang them upside-down in a dark, dry, well-ventilated place like the attic. (An alternative is to bunch them, tie a brown paper bag over them to keep out light and dust, and then hang them, but since that might mash some of the flowers, I wouldn’t recommend it in this case.)

Drying the buds. If your roses are still in bud or partially opened and you don’t want the stems, simply cut the buds off and place them on a tray or cookie sheet lined with plain white paper towels, leaving space around each bud. Set the tray in a dark, dry, well-ventilated place until the buds are totally dry. (You can turn them occasionally to help them dry faster.) Some people set the tray in the oven with the pilot light on to speed drying, but I’m sure I’d forget about it and turn on the oven, only realizing my mistake when the paper towels went up in flames!

Drying the petals: You can make beautiful, colorful potpourri by using the paper towel-lined cookie sheet and spreading the individual petals over it, then drying them as recommended for the buds. The petals of fragrant flowers like roses and peonies retain a faint perfume after drying. If you’d like a more fragrant potpourri, mix in some cloves, cinnamon, dried orange peel, and/or dried lemon-scented leaves (lemon geranium, lemon verbena, lemon balm, even lemon thyme) when you make up your potpourri.

Pressing: For single roses, violets, pansies, nasturtiums, and other delicate blooms, as well as ferns and leaves, pressing is a great way to go. Lay the flowers out on newspaper as you’d like them to appear when dried, making sure none overlap. (The newspaper should be several sheets thick.) Carefully place another section of newspaper over the flowers. Then weight the whole thing down by covering it with dictionaries, phone books, bricks, or what have you. (If you become addicted to flower pressing, you can buy a flower press, but I find that the old newspaper trick works just fine.) Resist the urge to look at your flowers for at least a week. Once they’re fully dry, arrange the flowers and foliage on a sheet of construction paper or any type of paper you’d like to use (handmade paper that includes flowers in the paper itself is an interesting choice), playing with the arrangement until you get one that pleases you, then glue the flowers and foliage onto the paper, following your arrangement. Once the glue has dried, you can frame your creation. In the case of my neighbor’s friend, the family could make a lovely tribute by asking a calligrapher to write a Bible verse, favorite poem, quote, even an original verse or tribute, and then the family could arrange the pressed flowers around the calligraphy before gluing and framing. Or they could choose a favorite photo of the dear departed and frame it in pressed flowers.

Microwaving: Putting the flowers you want to dry on a paper towel-covered plate in the microwave is supposedly a super-fast way to dry them. Not having a microwave, I’ve never tried this, but I’ve read so many horror stories about people setting the paper towels on fire and/or crisping the flowers that I wouldn’t recommend this technique in any case.

Drying like the pros: If you’ve ever dried flowers, you’ll know that your dried flowers look, well, dried. But when you see dried flower arrangements for sale, they often look amazingly lifelike. That’s because the pros dry their flowers in an antidesiccant, typically silica gel. You can, too. You just need two things: a plastic box with a tight-fitting lid (like a plastic shoebox) and an ample supply of the antidesiccant (available from crafts stores like Michael’s). To dry your flowers, pour about an inch of antidesiccant in the bottom of the plastic box. Cut off the flower stems (you can leave a stub so you can wire the flowers to supports later) and gently nestle the flowers, face up, in the antidesiccant, making sure none of them are touching. Then, very gently, drizzle more antidesiccant over the flowers, filling in around and between petals, until the flowers are completely covered. Add a little more on top, put the lid on the box, and wait. After a week, check to see how dry the flowers are. Once they’re completely dry, gently blow or brush off the antidesiccant (which resembles coarse salt) and your flowers are ready to go. The drawback here is that flowers dried this way can reabsorb moisture from the air, wilt, and even mold. You’ll need to display them under a glass dome or keep a close eye on them and put them back in the antidesiccant if they show any signs of going limp.

Whichever technique or techniques you use, drying flowers is fun and enjoyable, and making arrangements, potpourri, or pressed-flower compositions is even more fun. You might even get good enough to sell your creations: I’ve seen (and bought) wonderful dried flower arrangements and wreaths, as well as pressed flower “paintings” and gift cards. I’ve even seen pressed flowers on Easter eggs (they were beautiful!). Dried and pressed flower creations make great gifts, too. And as our neighbor’s friend discovered, they can make a lasting testament to a beloved family member.

                 ‘Til next time,

                               Silence