How to Dry Lavender Flowers for Sachet

Lavender, known for its power to calm, can be easily harvested and dried to scent pillows and bed linens. When harvested at the right time, lavender is a fairly easy flower to dry and collect for use in sachets.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scissors or pruning shears
• Rubber bands or small gauge wire
• Cool dry place for drying
• Plastic bags or storage containers

1. Harvest lavender flowers one stem at a time by cutting 6 to 8 inches below the bloom cluster, or just above the woody part. This allows enough length to bundle the flowers together for hanging.

2. Cut lavender when the first few flowers are fully open.

3. Bundle lavender stems together with a rubber band or small gauge wire. Bunch about a dozen together.

4. Hang upside down in a cool, dark place to dry. This usually takes about 2 or 3 weeks, depending on humidity.

5. Carefully remove the bundles from their hanging rack, trying not to disturb the dried blossoms. They fall off pretty easily.

6. Shake bundle into a large plastic bag or container. The lavender flowers should fall off easily.

7. Keep the container covered and in a cool dry place until the flowers are ready to be made into sachets.

Tips & Warnings

• Lavender plants should be pruned once a year after blooming even if the flowers aren't going to be used. Shape lavender plants into a mound. This will allow the plants to keep that nice, round appearance they are famous for.
• Pruning is important for healthy flowers the next year. Prune away all dead wood that did not produce blossoms.
• Plant lavender in full sun where it can develop all the way around. A plant that is too close to a wall will grow towards the sun and will fall over with too much weight to one side.
• Replace old plants when they get too large to manage pruning properly.

[AmyRose]

on 1/29/2009 Good article, 5*

There could be many reasons for them not blooming, but one thing that helps some plants bloom is a small amount of tea made of kelp meal. Lavender doesn't like mulch nor over fertilization, but some of it grows naturally near the sea, and a gentle kelp liquid tea has made some plants bloom when they didn't before. There's a mix of ingredients in the kelp that boosts blooming in plants, and of course it can be used if growing organically. Don't pour on too much.

[loveherbsohio]

on 11/9/2008 I just started researching for the same problem for my 2 plants. I am in Zone 5 (Ohio). I cut back some of the taller stems & put them in a vase. I would like to do something with the leaves (kneedles?) also. I think I should protect the (2) plants for winter. Hope you found some help, I'll let you know if I do.

[Centauro]

on 9/24/2008 My lavender plant did not produce any flowers this year. Its a new plant. Can I still dry the little kneedles and use as a sachet?