Dry flower care

Caring for dried flowers is quite simple, but proper care is critical to dried flower longevity.  There are two main considerations: light and moisture.

But first, hi! It’s been quite a while since my last blog post. I had lofty intentions to post every other week, maybe once a month.  But then life, a small business... Blog posts were a casualty. In the last year as the education portion of District Harvests has taken on a life of her own, it felt right to return to writing about drying flowers.  Once again I have lofty intentions, but for today I will return to the basics.

Dried flowers, pressed flowers, preserved flowers, whatever name or form they take, they all require the same general care.  The good news is they require less care than fresh flowers. But where you place your dried flower creation can determine how it stands the test of time. It is important to remember that flowers, fresh or dry, are fragile, organic material. But in a role reversal from their fresh counterparts, dry flowers have two natural enemies: light and moisture.

Light:

If you want to keep your dried flower creation looking vibrant for many years it MUST be displayed out of direct sunlight.  Sunlight will quickly alter the natural pigments in dried flowers.  Indirect sunlight will also fade out the natural pigments but at a slower rate.  Sunlight is a powerful bleach!  Remove any art from a sunny wall and look how your paint color has changed!  This process happens much more quickly with natural pigments.

This does not mean that your dried flower keepsake or art needs to be kept in a dark dungeon, but rather a wall of a room that doesn’t face a window.  Maybe in a corner or tucked up on a shelf.  I live in a sun drenched house, so I have quite a bit of practical experience in dried flower art placement!  It is possible to strategically place dried flower art in a sunny room.  But it does take some forethought and planning.

This is especially important for bridal bouquet preservations or other sentimental flowers.  You and I want your floral preservation to looking stunning for years to come.  So UV protective glass and all – PLEASE, display it out of direct sunlight.  Your flowers and I will thank you!

Moisture:

Unless you have an open piece this is less of a concern.  But back to flowers being organic material – they are designed to absorb moisture.  That is how plants survive! So even when dried, preserved, etc.,  if moisture is introduced they will absorb it.  This results in discoloration and/or droopy stems and petals. Most pieces (if not open) are sealed.  But sealed is not the same as air tight. 

A bathroom where some one showers every day is not a good home for your dried flower art.  A damp basement is not a good forever home.  Above your kitchen sink – also probably nope. 

DC is a humid place.  Its an unavoidable truth.  So finding a dry corner of your home is as important to your flowers longevity as a place out of direct sunlight.

So when your bouquet preservation or dried flower art comes home with you.  Spend a little time finding a good home for it.  It might not be the sunny spot above your couch that you imagined.  And that is okay, because with proper care, dried flowers can look beautiful for many, many years.  Without proper care they can quickly lose their luster.