How to Dry Cat Tails Flowers

Dry cattails for use in floral arrangements

Cat tail flowers (also called cattails) grow as long stalks with a cylindrical-shaped structure at the tops containing thousands of fuzzy cotton-like flowers containing seeds at their ends. Though not appearing as flowers in the normal sense of the word, the tops can be air dried for use in flower arrangements as this is a very common practice in many floral shops. The cattails must be harvested before reaching full maturity when the material easily blows away in the wind, generally in the months of late August through early October, depending on the local climate.

Things You'll Need

• Pruning scissors
• Clothes line with clothes pins
• Aerosol hair spray

Instructions

1. Observe the local cattail plants beginning in early spring, and watch for the tops to become full in diameter. Watch and wait until the cattails begin changing to a light-brown color but the cotton-like flowers don't yet release from the stalk when blowing on them vigorously.

2. Cut the cattails from the stems with a pair of pruning scissors about 1 to 2 feet below the flower head and carefully transport them to an outdoor clothes line. Harvest the cattails during the hottest part of the day, as this is the time when the least moisture is in the plants. This will shorten the amount of drying time necessary.

3. Hang each cattail upside-down from the clothes line. Use clothesline pins to clamp the end of the stem firmly. Allow the cattails to dry for 72 hours before continuing with the next step.

4. Spray a very light coat of aerosol hair spray onto the entire surface area of the cattails to prevent them seeds from blowing off of the flower heads should a breeze arise. Apply only a light coat so the spray droplets can be seen on all areas of each flower head. Allow the cattails to dry for an additional 72 hour period.

5. Apply another light layer of hair spray to the cattail flower heads and allow the spray to dry completely to the point where the cattails feel hard to the touch after drying. Test one of the cattails by flicking a finger roughly against the side making sure the seeds don't fall from the flower. If they do, apply a third coat of hair spray to all of the cattails and allow to dry one final time, at which time they should be preserved well enough to use as a table centerpiece or in a floral arrangement as desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Always apply aerosol hairspray to the cattails up-wind of each flower so the spray doesn't blow back into your eyes.

References

• Green Thumb Articles: How to Dry Flowers, Part 1
• Bay Weekly: Cattails Bring Autumn Into Your Home
• Alabma Cooperative Extension: Preservation of Flowers (PDF)
• University of Nebraska, Lincoln: Acreage eNews