Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers. They are beautiful fresh, with their soft petals and vibrant colors. But they are also stunning and long lasting when dried. If you’ve never dried them before, keep reading for my best tips on how to dry hydrangeas.
There are two common methods of drying hydrangeas. One involves simply hanging them upside down until they are dry to the touch. The other involves leaving them in water and allowing the water to evaporate as the flowers dry. I tested out both methods to compare them.
Cut your flowers when they are already starting to dry on the plant, not at their peak of beauty and softness. A great trick my mom taught me is to check out the small “bud” in the middle of the flower. If it’s still intact, then it’s not time yet to cut. When it opens up, then you’re ready to dry some hydrangeas.
This photo above should help you understand what I mean by the bud being open or closed. This particular flower had both an open and a closed bud, so it was a great example for learning.
You’ll want to cut your flowers so that they have as long of a stem as possible. 8 inches or more is ideal. You’ll also want to remove all of the leaves from the stems.
For my experiment, I tried two methods of drying. I had some blue and some red hydrangeas. I divided each color in half – half for the water method and half for the hanging method.
For the water method, you want your stems submerged in an inch or two of water. If the water evaporates before the flowers are dry, you can refill it with another inch or two.
For the hanging method, you can use some string or twine to hang them in a row. You’ll want them out of direct sunlight, as that can affect the colors.
After a week, all of my red hydrangeas – both in the water and hanging – were totally dry. I’ve read that it can take longer to dry – two or more weeks. I saw no significant difference between the two methods. I felt that both methods worked quickly and left the color intact. For reference, in the photo above, the left vase was dried upside down, and the right vase was dried using the water method.
The blue flowers were a bit different – the hanging ones dried quickly, but the water ones didn’t dry so fast. I didn’t see much difference in color for this method either. I ended up removing the remaining blue hydrangeas from their water and hanging them to dry.
Overall, both methods were pretty easy to do and got the job done. But in the future, my choice is the hanging method!
Once the hydrangeas are dry, they are ready to be used in your décor. I poked my red flowers into a grapevine wreath, something I’ve always wanted to try.
You can also put your flowers in a simple vase, create an arrangement, or make a wreath. They are beautiful and should carry you through the fall season!
If you enjoyed this post, follow @Lauren_Rose_Home on Instagram for more decorating tips. And if you’re really into dried florals, check out this post on how to use dried lavender.
Design, thrifting, and entertaining are my passion, and I share that passion with you through this blog. I also love being in the kitchen and crafting cocktails. I love Jesus and occasionally, I talk about him too. He has been so powerful in my life, and I love to bring him glory with my hobbies.
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