Summer may come and go, but you don’t have to say goodbye to your flowers! By drying your favorites and using them to create arrangements, you can hold onto summer and keep your garden’s beauty alive. Here, I’ve featured seven of the easiest flowers to dry. They don’t require any special materials – all you need is a dark, dry space.

Preserve a piece of summer by drying flowers from your garden.

Setting Up a Drying Space

First, find a spot in your house that stays dry and dark. It could be an unused closet, a little-used room, or in my case a sauna (turned off, of course). I installed a shower rod across the space and got some wire clothes hangers to hook the flowers on. Medium-sized rubber bands and paper clips round out the list of tools.

When to Pick Your Flowers

The most challenging part of drying flowers is knowing exactly when to pick them. Here are a few key Do’s and Don’ts to help you get better results:

• DON’T pick them after a rain or morning dew. Wait for the sun to dry the flower on its stem before picking.
• DO harvest flowers after they’ve opened. Speaking from experience, flower buds never dry well.
• DO rubber band the picked flowers’ stems together in small bunches and hang them upside down in a dry, dark space. While some flowers have strong enough stems to dry in a vase, most benefit from hanging upside down to help keep their stems straight.

Which Flowers to Use

Here are seven of the easiest flowers to dry: 

1. Gomphrena, or globe amaranth, is one of the easiest to dry, its ball of spiky bracts all but hiding its tiny flowers. The key is to pick them before they have been open too long and their bracts begin to brown where the flower and stem meet. Find taller varieties (18” – 30”) like Truffula Pink, or Ping Pong at your local garden center, or start plants from seed in the spring. Johnny’s Select Seeds offers a nice variety of colors.
2. Strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum) should be picked when they have half-opened. Once their centers begin to turn brown, they’re past their ideal picking time. Tall varieties are scarce at most nurseries, but you can start them from seed. Swallowtail Garden Seeds offers a rainbow of choices.
3. Ornamental Oregano is one of the best fillers for dried arrangements. The Kent Beauty variety is particularly easy to dry. Since it has very thin stems, it sometimes runs along the ground as it grows. To keep them clean, cover the soil surrounding the plant with a layer of pebbles or wood mulch. You can occasionally find taller varieties at garden centers or purchase them from specialty nurseries like Mountain Valley Growers in Squaw Valley, CA.
4. Peonies dry surprisingly well, but you’ll have the most success with double varieties in medium pink to red because the pale colors tend to turn brown. For the best results, pick peony flowers on a dry day just as they’ve opened fully. Hang each peony stem individually or staggered so their blooms don’t get crushed. A few varieties that have worked well for me include Dayton, Pink Derby, Big Ben, and Exotic Sunflower.
5. Lavender dries well and has the bonus of maintaining its scent long after drying. The stems hold up better if you pick them when only about half of the buds are in bloom. A few varieties I recommend include Grosso, Sensational, and Gros Bleu. US Lavender has a lot of information on different varieties, and Goodwin Creek Gardens has a great selection of lavender for drying.
   

   This stem of lavender is ready to harvest.

6. Hydrangea – specifically hydrangea paniculata and hydrangea arborescens – dry easily with their stems upright in a vase. With any Hydrangea bloom, it’s important to wait until the florets are all completely open. Hydrangea varieties Incrediball, and Incrediball Blush dry incredibly well if you pick them after their petals have dried a bit on the plant. Panicle Hydrangeas Vanilla Strawberry and Limelight also dry very well in a vase.
7. Celosia – there are three types of ornamental Celosia that people commonly dry: wheat, plume, and crested.
   • The wheat types of Celosia are the easiest to work into a garden setting, offering a more subtle, upright form with flowers elongating as the summer wears on.
   • The plume type of Celosia is hard to ignore in the garden; its flowers keep growing until they set seed, at which time it’s too late to harvest them. Celosia Kelos Candela Pink is an All-America Selections choice for 2021. Judges liked its ability to keep blooming all summer while keeping its bright pink color and its aptitude for dried arrangements.
   • Crested Celosia is, in my opinion, an acquired taste – more of a novelty than a garden plant that “plays well with others.” This form is often referred to as a cockscomb for its resemblance to the bright poultry organ. Tall varieties can be hard to find at garden centers, but you can start them from seed.

Arranging Dried Flowers

To show off your beautiful dried flowers, you can toss your stems in a vase or you can get creative with dried flower crafts. A few of my favorite ideas include:

1. Arranging in an opaque vase. (No one wants to look at dried flower stems!)
2. Creating a wreath. Fresh stems work best for wreath-making because they’re more pliable and easier to work with. Mountain Valley Growers, in Squaw Valley, CA, offers step-by-step instructions along with suggestions of plants for this project.
3. Making a simple, fragrant lavender sachet. I got a few organza gift bags, inserted some beads and lavender stems, and made ornaments for my Christmas tree.
4. Make a lavender wand. These are a decorative way to scent drawers and cabinets. They also make wonderful gifts!

It doesn’t take many dried flowers to scent these whimsical vases!

To get started, use some of the plants I’ve recommended here or try some of the flowers already in your garden. You could also try other pressed flower crafts, as they work with even more varieties. Whether you grow your own blooms or buy a bunch when you can, knowing that you can preserve them will make you look at flowers in a whole new light.