How to Dry Everlasting Flowers

Everlastings are flowers that retain their shape and color after drying. They are known as strawflowers or statice and come from the family of sunflowers. Drying everlastings enables you the pleasure of enjoying your favorite flowers indefinitely. Learn more about what types of flowers to dry, when to harvest them and how to preserve your favorite types.

Things You'll Need

• Garden snips
• Rubber bands
• Drying rack
• Hanger

Instructions

1. Choose the type of everlastings you wish to dry. There are many to choose from, including sea holly, pink pokers, baby's breath, and larkspur. Everlastings have a papery feel even before they've been harvested.

2. Make sure you've chosen a genuine everlasting to ensure the greatest possible results. Many plant materials can be dried, but everlastings are the best choice.

3. Water and fertilize your everlastings for maximum color when dried. Flowers that are grown properly, dry beautifully.

4. Harvest the flowers at just the right time. Cutting flowers to early or to late jeopardizes the plants ability to produce an excellent final form.

5. Pick the flowers before the heat of the day, right after the dew dries and remove unwanted leaves while the plant is still moist.

6. Gather the everlastings up in bunches and tie them together with rubber bands. Hang them upside down on a drying rack or hanger with plenty of room between them for proper air circulation.

7. Dry the flowers in a dark, dry and hot room. Attics, basements and furnace rooms are adequate drying places. There should be no light or humidity.

8. Let the everlastings dry for at least three days. Grains, seed pods and roses need a few weeks. Flowers are dry when the stems snap, except for dense varieties, such as cockscomb.

9. Leave the everlastings hanging in a dark room away from the sun until you are ready to display them. The sun will fade the flowers. You can also line them carefully in a storage box layered with newspaper.

Tips & Warnings

• Some everlastings, such as allium, pampas grass, yarrow, and statice, can be dried upright by standing them up in an empty vase. If you are drying baby's breath or hydrangea, add 3 inches of water to the vase.

• Spray your dried flowers with water before arranging them. Dried flowers are fragile and will break. The water adds a little pliability for easier plant maneuvering.

• When tying your everlasting bundles together, do not use string. As the flowers dry, the stems shrink, and the flowers will all come apart.