What to do with dried flowers?

Use dried flowers in vases, wreaths, framed pressed pieces, gift wrapping, place cards, memory boxes or small bud-vase groupings. Brittle or broken petals can still be useful for flat crafts, but avoid using dusty or musty flowers for anything handled often.

How to preserve dried flowers?

Keep dried flowers out of direct sun, away from moisture and away from heat vents. Dust them gently with cool air or a soft brush, and handle stems as little as possible. If you use a sealant, test a hidden petal first because sprays can darken some flowers.

How to store dried flowers?

Store dried flowers in a dry, dark box or container where they will not be crushed. Wrap delicate heads loosely in tissue, keep heavy items off them, and avoid basements or garages that get damp. For long stems, store them flat or upright with room around the flower heads.

Dried Flowers: Make, Display and Keep Them Longer at Home

Q: How to make dried flowers?

Air-dry sturdy flowers by hanging small bunches upside down in a dark, dry, ventilated room for two to four weeks. Use silica gel for full blooms such as roses, peonies and dahlias when you want better shape and colour. Press thin flowers and leaves if you want flat keepsakes.

Q: How long do dried flowers last?

Most dried flowers look good for six months to two years. They can last longer, but colour will fade and petals will become more brittle over time. Light, humidity, dust and handling shorten their display life.

Q: Where to buy dried flowers?

You can buy dried flowers from local florists, flower farms, craft stores and online dried-flower sellers. If you want to preserve a sentimental arrangement, start with fresh flowers and dry selected stems before they wilt. For delivery, check whether the seller offers dried stems, fresh flowers, or both.

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Start with the right flowers and the right expectations

Dried flowers are fresh stems preserved by removing moisture, so they can be used in vases, wreaths, keepsake bouquets, framed art and table decor long after a fresh arrangement would fade. They are not meant to look exactly fresh forever. The best results come from flowers with firm petals, strong stems and colour that still looks good when it softens. Roses, statice, strawflower, lavender, eucalyptus, yarrow, baby’s breath and hydrangea are reliable choices. Very watery flowers, such as tulips and many lilies, can dry, but they often shrink, bruise or lose shape quickly.

If you are starting from a fresh gift bouquet, enjoy it first, then dry selected stems before they decline. A full mixed arrangement from our every-day flowers collection can give you several candidates for drying if you remove them while they are still firm. For roses in particular, choose blooms that are open enough to show shape but not dropping petals; our roses page is a useful place to compare colours before ordering fresh stems to enjoy now and dry later.

How to make dried flowers at home

The easiest answer to how to make dried flowers is air-drying. Strip leaves from the lower stems, gather five to ten stems with an elastic, and hang them upside down in a dark, dry, well-ventilated room. A closet, spare room or dry basement shelf can work if air can move around the bunch. Most flowers take two to four weeks, depending on stem thickness and humidity. Hydrangeas often do better standing upright in a vase with a little water, then drying slowly as the water evaporates.

For full blooms where shape matters, silica gel is usually better than air. Bury the flower head gently in drying crystals, support the petals, and check after several days instead of several weeks. wisedry silica gel flower drying crystals are made for drying whole blooms such as roses, peonies and dahlias while helping them keep more of their shape and colour. If you want fresh roses first, The Graceful Grandeur Rose Bouquet ($89.95 CAD) gives you long-stemmed blooms you can enjoy, then preserve a few before they soften.

Pressing flowers, including dried pressed flowers

Dried pressed flowers are different from upright dried stems. Pressing makes flowers flat for cards, bookmarks, framed pieces, place cards and memory boxes. The best candidates are thin blooms and leaves: pansies, violets, cosmos petals, fern, eucalyptus leaves, small daisies and single rose petals. Thick flower heads usually press poorly unless you separate the petals first. Put the plant material between absorbent paper, keep it flat, and change the paper if it feels damp during the first few days.

A dedicated press is cleaner and more even than stacking heavy cookbooks, especially if you plan to press often. The Suziko flower press kit suits petals, leaves and thin flowers for small framed projects, cards and bookmarks. Can you press dried flowers? Yes, but it works best with partly dried, still-flexible material or individual petals. Fully brittle stems often crack under pressure, so press early if flat keepsakes are the goal.

Displaying a dried flowers bouquet

A dried flowers bouquet needs more support than a fresh bouquet because the stems are lighter and less flexible. Use a vase with a narrower neck, chicken wire, floral pin frog or a little dry floral foam if the stems will not stand. Opaque containers hide uneven stem ends, which helps dried arrangements look intentional rather than sparse. The GUKJOB white ceramic vase is a small matte option that hides stems and water lines, and it suits dried stems and pampas as well as fresh flowers.

For single stems on a mantel, windowsill or dinner table, small vases are often better than one large vase. TBWIND glass bud vases hold one to three stems each, which suits lavender, strawflower, baby’s breath and short dried roses. If you prefer a fresh florist-made vased arrangement instead of finding a container, Splendid ($74.95 CAD) is arranged by a local florist and arrives designed for display. You can still remove suitable stems later for drying.

Keeping colour and knowing how long dried flowers last

How long do dried flowers last? As a rule of thumb, expect six months to two years for good display quality, and sometimes longer if the room is dry, shaded and not handled much. Colour fades first, then petals become dusty or brittle. Lavender and statice usually keep their form well. White and pale pink flowers can yellow or beige over time, while dark red roses often dry deeper and moodier. Bright sunlight is the fastest way to lose colour, even when the stems feel perfectly dry.

To preserve dried flowers, keep them away from direct sun, bathrooms, steamy kitchens and heat vents. A common mistake is spraying every dried bouquet with hairspray; it can darken petals, leave a sticky film and attract dust. If you use a floral sealant, test a small area first. In damp coastal parts of BC or Atlantic Canada, watch for mustiness and give arrangements more air. In very dry Prairie homes, handle stems gently because petals can become crisp faster. Fresh roses dried in silica usually keep shape better than roses hung in big bunches.

Buying and storing dried flowers in Canada

Where to buy dried flowers depends on whether you want raw stems, a finished arrangement or a fresh bouquet to preserve yourself. Local florists, flower farms, craft stores and online dried-flower sellers are all common options for dried stems in Canada. Ready-made materials are useful if you want a quick display; a dried lavender bundle works for bud vases, sachets or mixing into a dried bouquet. For taller branches, long-stemmed roses or lilies, a straight clear vase such as the CYS EXCEL glass cylinder vase gives height and simple support.

Flowers on Demand delivers fresh flowers across Canada, including AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK, NT, NU and YT. Orders are fulfilled by a network of local florists who arrange and hand-deliver; we are not one shop sending vans across the country. Delivery is a flat $19.99 CAD, and same-day delivery is available Monday to Saturday when you order by 1:00 PM in the recipient’s local time. There is no Sunday delivery. Substitutions of similar value and style can happen when a local florist is short a specific stem, which is normal in flower delivery. For a fresh gift with possible drying stems, browse our every-day designs or consider Lush ($74.95 CAD).