If you have a bouquet of special flowers like a Valentine’s Day bouquet, a bridal bouquet, or an anniversary arrangement, you can continue to enjoy their beauty and be reminded of your happy memories for years to come. How? It’s simple! Don’t toss your bouquet; display it, instead! The expert florists at Expressions Unlimited in Greenville, SC, put together this simple guide to drying flowers to help you get the most out of your keepsake floral bouquets.
Season of You
The Best Way to Dry Keepsake Flowers
Most floral arrangements and bouquets, like our Season of You arrangement, feature a variety of blooms in all different shapes and sizes. This type of diversity in floral designs creates stunning looks but can be tricky to preserve by pressing because not all flowers can be pressed and produce desirable results. Instead of pressing your keepsake flowers, we recommend drying them. Not only does this method of preservation work well for all types of blooms, but it also preserves their three-dimension shapes.
Hanging Dried Flowers
The best way, by far, to dry your flowers is to let them air dry. This method yields the best results, in terms of preserving your flowers’ colors and lifelike posture. It’s best to begin the drying process while your flowers are still fairly fresh. They’ll hold up best dry if they’re dried before the blooms have opened completely.
To air-dry flowers, you’ll first need to trim and remove their leaves or other extra foliage. Next, arrange the flowers, as you like, and tie their stems together with string. Using the other end of the string, hang the flowers upside down to dry. Air-dried flowers should be hung in a warm, dark location, where the sunlight won’t fade their colors.
Dried Pink Roses
Depending on the type of flowers, humidity, and room temperature, your flowers might need anywhere from several days to a few weeks to dry completely. Although you might not want to wait, it’s essential that flowers are allowed enough time to dry completely before displaying them. Any remaining moisture will cause your flowers to rot.
How to Display Your Dried Flowers
You should first consider the placement of your flowers. We recommend placing them in a location where they won’t be faded by direct sunlight or damaged by excessive humidity coming from a hot shower or even a dishwasher. Once you’ve found a suitable location, you can decide how you want to use your dried flowers in your home.
Bouquet of Dried Flowers in Glass Vase
Dried flowers look beautiful in a bouquet or arranged in a pretty vase, but there are lots of other clever ways that you can display dried flowers around your house. Some of our favorites for keepsake flowers include arranging them inside a shadow box with other mementos from your special day. You can also use your dried flowers to create a floral wreath that can be hung anywhere inside your home. We recommend using a wicker wreath base.
If you need more flowers to fill out your wreath design, you can always ask a professional florist at Expressions Unlimited for recommendations regarding the best flowers to complement your dried bouquet.
