All things pumpkin and colorful leaves season is just around the corner. And with those pumpkin spice coffees and muffins, comes decor changing around the house and one of my favorite ways to decorate for autumn is with dried flowers. With the abundance of summer blooms that you can bring inside to enjoy right now, it is a perfect time to save those flowers for using again next season. Today we are back in the potting shed with a few favorite ways to dry flowers.
Side note: you can see more of this potting shed dried flower moment in full size page views in my new book FRENCH COUNTRY COTTAGE SEASONS – available for preorder and releasing September 29th.
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Summer Blooms
While every garden is different, there are usually several types of summer blooms that are perfect for enjoying and then drying as they begin to wilt. In our garden, roses, dahlias and hydrangeas are plentiful in August and September- though we also got some sweet peas, herbs and wildflowers that are growing well too. I have learned over the years which flowers dry the best, but you can always try any of them and see what works for you.
Roses and hydrangeas are two of the top of those mentioned. They both dry beautifully.
Sunflowers are so lovely as dried flowers too- and something I love about them is that even if their petals drop, their centers are incredible as dried bits to enjoy.
How to dry flowers
After enjoying blooms in the house, you can simply cut the ends off the flowers as well as any extra leaves you don’t want and tie them together with twine to hang upside down to dry. Often it is recommended to be a dark closet or room- I think to preserve the color maybe but I have found they will dry nicely wherever they are as long as the area is dry and well ventilated.
Something else that has worked wonders for me, is to just let them dry in the vase. Often, the flowers will dry perfectly as the water in the vase shrinks- especially when the weather is hot. Not all will do that though so trial and error to see what works well for you.
You can also use a silica gel to dry flowers by placing them into the silica face down and covering them with more. Leave for several weeks to allow them to dry and the silica to absorb the moisture.
Potting Shed Dried Flowers
A favorite place to enjoy dried flowers and drying them, is our potting shed. It is a small little building that has a good amount of airflow with windows and doors and that is dark enough to preserve much of the color. I used 2 branches that fell from a tree across the top wall boards to create a place to tie bunches of flowers. Hanging on small branch nubs or just tying around the branch itself works fine. You can also create this same type of set up inside your house by hanging the branches from the ceiling beams or something similar.
You can see more of this potting shed dried flower moment in full size page views in my new book FRENCH COUNTRY COTTAGE SEASONS – available for preorder and releasing September 29th.
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