If you keep your bridal bouquet or anniversary flowers in water too long, they won’t last forever. You can, however, hold onto your special occasion flowers if you dry them. Once dried, you can display them in your home to remind you of all your happiest memories. Keep them displayed as a bouquet in a vase, arrange them in a shadow box, or use them to create a lovely floral wreath. No matter how you choose to display your keepsake flowers, our Louisville flower experts at Nanz & Kraft Florists put together this quick guide on how to dry and care for your flowers!

Bouquet of Dried Roses

The Best Ways to Dry Flowers

Orange Crush

You can press flowers to save them, but we don’t recommend it for keepsake bouquets because pressing doesn’t work well for all types of flowers. Mixed bouquets like our Orange Crush arrangement, tend to contain both flat-faced flowers like daisies (which are good for pressing) and thicker flowers like roses (which aren’t good for pressing). We recommend drying flowers because it will work well regardless of the types of flowers in your bouquet. Plus, it preserves their unique three-dimensional shapes, too.

The best way to dry flowers is by hanging them and letting them air dry. It’s best to start this process before your flowers have begun to wilt and before their blooms are fully open. First, you’ll want to trim the leaves and excess foliage from your flower stems. Then arrange the flowers, as you like, and tie their stems together with string. Leave a long tail on the end of the string and use it to hang the flowers upside down. You should air dry flowers in a warm, dark location, as direct sunlight will fade their colors.

Hanging Dried Flowers

Depending on the type of flowers, humidity, and weather, air drying can take anywhere from several days to a few weeks for flowers to dry completely. Choosing this flower drying method for special flowers, however, will be well-worth the wait when your dried flowers look vibrant and life-like.

How to Preserve and Care for Dried Flowers

The first step to making sure your dried flowers last for years is to make sure that they’re completely dry before you display them. Any remaining moisture will cause them to rot. Completely dry flowers will take on a texture similar to tissue paper.

Dried Pink Roses

Once dry, we also recommend applying a few coats of hairspray to your flowers. This will strengthen your delicate flowers and also protect them from the elements. Use an unscented hairspray and be sure to spritz your flowers from a good distance so that the force of the spray doesn’t damage them.

Carefully consider where you display dried flowers. To prevent fading, they should never be in the path of direct sunlight. It’s also important to keep them away from high-humidity areas, like the bathrooms or dishwasher.

Finally, dry flowers tend to collect dust, but you can keep them clean and gently dust-free. Don’t use a feather duster, as its force (even if it’s just a tickle) could damage your flowers. Instead, blow the dust away using a hairdryer on a cool setting and low speed.

Dried Flower Bouquet in Glass Vase

For more information about the best flowers for special occasions and how to preserve them, we welcome you to stop by Nanz & Kraft Florists.