Flowers are beauties to be treasured, and their beauty doesn’t have to be fleeting. By drying or pressing your special occasion or favorite bouquets, you can enjoy them for years to come. Our flower experts at Mancuso’s Florist in St. Clair Shores put together this helpful guide on drying and pressing flowers to help you get the most out of every bouquet you receive.

Bouquet of Dried Pressed Flowers

How to Dry Flowers

Drying flowers is a great method of flower preservation, if you have a bouquet with a variety of flowers because any type of flower will dry well. The best way to dry your flowers is by removing their leaves, binding their stems, and hanging them upside down. This yields lively-looking flowers with vibrant colors, but requires several days.

You can also dry your flowers in the oven to speed up the process. Put your oven on its lowest heat setting. Arrange flowers on a parchment-lined baking tray  and make sure they do not overlap or touch, as this will cause them to stick together. Allow moisture to evaporate by leaving the oven door open while your flowers dry for eight to twelve hours.

Hanging Dried Flowers

Drying flowers is a great method, if you plan to display them as a dried bouquet, in a shadow box, or use them to make a floral wreath.

How to Press Flowers

Flower pressing is a great option for flowers that are less dense, have interesting profiles, or for those that are naturally flat-faced such as daisies or asters.

There are several ways to press flowers. You can use a traditional flower press that consists of two hard, flat surfaces sandwiching cardboard and parchment, and bound together by screws that tighten at all four corners. You can also create a makeshift flower press, using parchment paper and heavy books. Most flowers will need several days to dry completely in a press.

Pressing Flowers

For a faster pressing process, try flattening your flowers in parchment and books and then pressing and drying them with an iron set to a cooler setting with the steam turned off.

Pressing flowers is a great choice, if you want to use your flowers for a decoupage project, include them in a scrapbook, or display them in a botanical frame.

Selecting the Best Bouquets to Dry or Press

Happy Day Bouquet

Typically, bouquets contain a variety of flowers in different shapes, sizes, and textures, such as our Happy Day Bouquet. This poses no problem, if you wish to dry your flowers. However, having flowers of different sizes and densities, especially, can make it difficult to preserve an entire bouquet by pressing it. If you find that you have a variety of flowers, but would still like to press them, we recommend slicing your larger blooms, like roses or globe thistles, first. This will help you achieve a much neater and more even silhouette throughout the bouquet.

Bouquet of Dried Flowers in Glass Vase

While you can preserve any type of flower you want, it’s best to be mindful of the likely drying times and method you choose to use. Selecting flowers that are suitable for your method of preservation will make the process go much more smoothly.

For more information about pressing and drying flowers or for recommendations on the best bouquets to save, we welcome you to stop by Mancuso’s Florist.