How to Preserve Flowers for Creative Projects

After designing and creating something special with flowers, I always hate to see them wither and eventually fade away. Recently, I began preserving the flowers I love so I can enjoy and use them again in future creative projects. This year, I’ve been experimenting with one of my favorites—the beloved dahlia—and the results have been wonderful.

I’ve even been known to disassemble a special bouquet and transform its individual flowers into a small everlasting wreath, creating a meaningful keepsake that helps commemorate a beautiful occasion.

Preserving flowers this way gives them a second life, turning something fleeting into a lasting piece of art.

Different Methods for Drying and Preserving Flowers

There are several simple ways to dry and preserve flowers, and the best method often depends on the type of flower. When I have abundant, sturdy stems like lavender, I typically use the traditional method of hanging small bunches upside down to air dry.

For flowers such as hydrangeas and tiny spray roses, I’ve found that an even easier method works beautifully: simply place them in a vase without water and let them dry naturally. As they lose their moisture, many flowers take on a wonderfully sculptural quality, creating a beautiful piece of dried-flower art with almost no effort at all.

Experimenting with different flower-preservation methods is part of the fun. With a little patience, flowers that might otherwise be discarded can become lasting materials for wreaths, arrangements, crafts, and other creative projects.

Dried spray roses in simple vase.

How to Preserve Flowers with Silica Gel Crystals

One of my favorite methods for preserving flowers is drying them with silica gel crystals. Silica gel gently draws moisture from the flowers, helping them retain much of their original shape, color, and delicate details. It’s an especially effective method for preserving flowers for wreaths, floral arrangements, crafts, and other creative projects.

I like to begin by removing any excess foliage and stems using my favorite Micro Pruning Snips. If you’re planning a project that requires the stems, you can certainly leave them intact.

Next, add about 1 inch of Silica Gel Crystals to the bottom of a Rubbermaid container, making sure the crystals create an even layer across the entire surface. Carefully place your flowers on top of the silica gel, either face up or face down, depending on the shape and type of flower. Arrange them closely together, but make sure the flowers aren’t touching one another.

Once all of your flowers are arranged, slowly pour more Silica Gel Crystals over the top. Continue adding crystals until each flower is completely covered and the silica gel has gently filled in around every petal and detail.

Secure the lid tightly and place the container in a cool, preferably dark location for approximately one week. The exact drying time will vary depending on the type and size of the flower. Some delicate flowers may be completely dry in just a few days, while larger, moisture-rich flowers can take longer.

The wonderful thing about drying flowers with silica gel is that you can experiment with different varieties and drying times to see what produces the best results. With a little trial and error, you’ll discover which flowers preserve beautifully—and you’ll have a wonderful supply of everlasting blooms ready for your next creative project.

Delicate dried Dahlia Flowres.

How to Remove and Store Flowers Preserved with Silica Gel

Once your flowers have finished drying, it’s time to carefully remove them from the silica gel. For this step, I recommend using a small slotted spatula, which makes it much easier to gently retrieve smaller, delicate flowers without damaging the petals.

I carefully slide the spatula underneath each flower and lift it slowly, allowing the Silica Gel Crystals to fall back into the container. Once the flower is removed, I gently tap it on all sides to release any crystals that may still be tucked between the petals.

I then arrange all of my newly preserved flowers side by side on a tray and allow them to sit for a little while longer, making sure they are completely dry before storing them. This extra step is important because any remaining moisture can lead to mold.

Once I’m confident the flowers are completely dry, I store them in a container with air vents to allow for some circulation. Properly dried and stored flowers can last for a long time, giving you a beautiful collection of everlasting blooms to use in wreaths, floral arrangements, crafts, and other creative projects.

Gently scooping dried Dahlia Flowers out of the Silica Gel Crystals.

Creative Ideas for Dried Flowers

Once you’ve preserved a beautiful collection of flowers, the fun really begins! There are so many creative things to make with dried flowers, from everlasting wreaths and floral branches to small decorative pieces that can be used as table cards, place settings, or gift toppers.

I especially love turning little pieces of wood into unique dried flower decorations. They make charming table cards or thoughtful gift toppers and are a wonderful way to give preserved flowers a second life. Another favorite in autumn are dried flower pumpkins. Hot gluing your dried bounty to the top of a pumpkin is simple and it makes a great centerpiece.

Or, you can keep it wonderfully simple. I often arrange small groupings of dried flowers in a pretty vase and let their natural beauty speak for itself. Unlike fresh flowers, dried floral arrangements can be enjoyed for months or even years, making them a lovely way to preserve a special moment, bouquet, or season.

If you’re planning to make dried flower wreaths, floral decorations, or gift toppers, I highly recommend investing in a quality glue gun. Because I do quite a bit of designing, I purchased a professional-grade, cordless Ryobi Glue Gun, and I absolutely love it. It gets very hot, so be careful when working with it, but not having a cord to maneuver around makes creating so much easier. The battery and charger are included, too.

With a collection of preserved blooms and a few simple supplies, you can turn dried flowers into beautiful, lasting pieces for your home, entertaining, gift wrapping, and creative projects.

Mini spray roses glued to a tiny piece of wood.

I hope this inspires you to start preserving all the beautiful flowers you encounter and turn them into something you can enjoy for years to come. I’d love to see what you create, so feel free to drop me a line and share your dried flower projects!
Your Supply list:

Hearty Fresh Flowers (without a lot of delicate & loose petals)
Micro-Tip Pruning Snips
Rubbermaid Storage Containers with Lids
Silica Gel Crystals
Mini Slotted Spatula
Professional-grade Glue Gun

How to make your own flower confetti

Forage from your gardens

• Take a walk around your gardens or a nearby meadow and bring your shears and a small bag or basket. Whenever I come across a flower with great color, I try to snip a few to use for flower confetti. Many cut flowers like to be cut regularly because this promotes new growth, so don’t be afraid to snip a few. If you are foraging in a meadow, make sure the petals are large enough, and if they are not, like with a wild daisy, snip the entire flower head.

Choosing flowers with colorful petals

Save every petal

• After foraging, lay everything out on a tray or towel to see what you have. Shoosh away any small insects and gently begin to remove the petals from the larger flowerheads before they turn brown

• You can separate and leave the petals to dry as is on a flat surface or …

• Place the petals in your dehydrator and set it to the lowest setting. Dehydrate for only about 1 hour or until all petals are completely dry but not brown. Be careful not to over-dehydrate; watch closely. All flowers are different, so this step needs to be monitored

Separating the petals from the centers

Store After Drying

• Separate and place the petals on a white plate so you can easily see the array of colors, and if necessary, wait several days to make sure they completely dry

• Discard any petals that have turned brown

• Store the dried petals in a wide-mouth jar without a lid or use a lid with air vents to allow air circulation and prevent molding.

Dried Peony Petals

Style Tables and Give Confetti Gifts

• Now on demand, you can create flower confetti jars to give as gifts. They make lovely summer picnic gifts, and they pair so nicely with baskets full of fresh herbs, vegetables, and homemade sourdough bread.

• Style pretty summer tables by sprinkling the flower confetti around candles, place settings, or amidst flower arrangements. Here is the list of all the supplies I use to create my own flower confetti. Enjoy!

Simple jars of Flower Confetti make wonderful gifts

How We Painted our Barn

When we bought our farm, Windy Hill, in 2007, the property had a beautiful Victorian farmhouse, a small cottage, a big storage building in the back, and a stately, 4-story, hunter green barn.

The barn, unlike the modernized house, was in near-original condition. A lone chicken resided in the barn, not too long before we arrived, and there were animal pens, a long trough, and more than a few bird nests waiting for us inside. We jumped on this pretty early on, cleaning up the unnecessary chicken coop, powerwashing the trough and floors, and securing many of the windows so new birds would not get inside. The exterior, however, remained intact until we had to replace a few of the 28 windows that were damaged during a windstorm.

Windy Hill’s Victorian House

Windy Hill’s Bank Barn 2007-2024

Windy Hill Bank Barn North Side View

Windy Hill Bank Barn South Side View

This Old Barn

Over the years, we didn’t need the barn, and we made no plans to raise farm animals because we were busy raising our three young children. But we knew it was important to preserve our piece of history and to keep her looking the best we could.

We brought in The Heritage Conservancy of Bucks County and found that the barn and house were likely built sometime in the early to mid-1800s. We learned there are Roman numerals or “marriage marks” (markings on the timbers of the roof frame to indicate timber location in the building) on the ceiling of the barn’s upper floor, so this helped in determining the age.

Why make a change?

Somewhere during the autumn of 2024, I spotted an oversized photograph of a painted, black barn at my local Benjamin Moore store. It was an advertisement for their stock black (2132-10) low lustre paint, and I fell in love immediately. I knew our barn’s south side was especially faded and worn from the severe storms we’ve been having lately, and I wondered what our barn would look like if it were updated with black. So after colorizing a photo in Photoshop to get a quick glimpse, I called professional painter, Brandon Chamberlain, for a consultation and estimate, and the rest is history.

28 Freakin’ Windows!

The first thing we had to do was remove all of the windows. Some were new, as I mentioned before, and some were very old and literally falling apart. Nevertheless, we needed to remove, categorize, clean, and prep each window for painting. This was by far the worst part of the job, and it fell primarily on me. I sorted and cleaned every single window in our mudroom, which took the better part of a day. Then Michael and I set up shelving in our dining room, where we began the tedious job of painting every single frame and muntin (strips of wood that hold the window panes in place) for every single window! I will never do this again, you can quote me.

disguising old and ugly imperfections

Brandon started by going around the entire barn and filling all of the cracks, holes, and broken tiles so they’d be virtually invisible after painting. For this, he used a product called Bondo Filler, which he said covers even the “worst imperfections” and dries quickly. He was right. There were quite a few broken shingles on this barn, and now it’s very difficult to spot them. Brandon also did quite a bit of carpentry prep work by patching peaked soffits riddled by carpenter bees, and by replacing a few window sills that were rotten and worn. The extra effort was very much appreciated.

The Windy weather at Windy Hill

Once the Bondo was set and all of the prep work was finished, it was time to spray the paint. Brandon set aside 2 days in April to get two coats of paint on the barn, but the weatherman had other plans.

The first week of April came with freezing temperatures, wind, and lots of rain. The second week of April brought the same awful weather. Every time Brendan tried to begin work, something would happen - a fierce wind gust, an unexpected rain shower, or freezing temperatures that we’d normally see in February and March. It was discouraging, to say the least, as our deadline was April 20, Easter.

Brandon and his assistant used only ladders to scale this tall barn. And as you can see in the photo above, the south side peak was the most difficult because he had to work around a power line and a very tall birch tree. But the two of them dangled the sprayer out of the upper windows and got the job done.

Why You Should Hire a Professional

Forever the professional, Brandon pressed on, week after week, day after day, throughout April, assuring me over and over that the barn would be painted by Easter. And so it was. Brandon finished the job on Good Friday, which meant that we could reinstall all the windows on Saturday, just in time for the holiday.

the Finishing Touches

We did break two of the older window panes when we reinstalled, but fortunately we have a great, little glass shop in town that will fix them up in one day. They are already at the doctor's.

I also searched for very large, faux, spring wreaths to adorn the 3 front barn doors. These oversized green and white wreaths are from Wayfair, but you can find similar ones here.

Thank you for following along on our 2025 Bank Barn Journey. If you have any questions please share in the comments, I’d be happy to help if I can.

Windy Hill Bank Barn 2025

What to Plant for Mesmerizing Spring Blooms

Hellebore: One of my favorites!

Hellebores are known commonly as The Lenten Rose because they bloom in the winter, generally between February and April, around the time of Lent. And although they are somewhat rose-like in appearance they belong to the buttercup family. Their colors range from white to dusty pink, pale yellow, muted green, burgundy, purple and I’ve even seen coral.

they must be shy

Interestingly the flower of the Hellebore faces down in the garden so I had to position my camera underneath to get these photos. I like to think they are just timid and shy but Hellebores face downwards to protect the internals of the flower and to allow successful pollination.

Easy to Grow

Hellebores are shade perennials that naturalize easily. I planted a few little baby springs about 3 years ago and my garden is now bursting. Hellebores spread rapidly thanks to their extensive root systems and self-seeding habits. I dedicated a side garden in the shade for them and I hope they eventually cover the whole thing. Some people regard them as invasive, but I don’t think I could ever get enough of them here at Windy Hill. They are among my favorites.

Pretty but Poisonous

As with many flowering plants, the Hellebores are poisonous if ingested, so be sure to keep them out of the mouths of young children and pets. But on a positive note, deer do not go near them!

Hellelore

The Hellebore flower has a dark and mysterious reputation in folklore. They are often associated with rituals of protection and banishment. In ancient times, the plant was believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits and protect against witchcraft. Click here if you want to read more about the legends and myths surrounding Hellebore.

Use as Sculpture

Last year I didn’t want my beautiful Hellebores to end, so I preserved a few stems in silica-drying crystals and displayed them with my dried Hydrangea. This arrangement lasted all year and still has some life. I love the sculptural aspect of it and the way it contrasts with the white pot.

If you fell in love with Hellebore long ago, or are just learning about them now, I hope you take the time to plant some this spring. By next Lent you should see some beautiful blooms. I’ve provided a few links below for your convenience.

3 Hellebore Starter Plants

Silica Drying Crystals

Hellebore Seeds

I may sometimes use affiliate links, which means I’ll make a small commission, but the price you pay will be the same whether you use the affiliate link or go directly to the vendor’s website. Thank you.

The Mighty Crocus - First to Bloom - What's Blooming at Studio Sprig

Finding the small, but mighty, crocus peeking out of brown grasses is one of the first signs that Spring has sprung. These photos were taken on March 11 at my farm, Windy Hill, and although Spring does not officially arrive until March 20th, we can fake it til we make it.

Masses of wild crocuses have been consistently popping up here every year since we moved in, 18 years ago. They brighten up the brittle, dry grasses and leaves and seem to scream “Wake up people, winter’s over”.

What Is A Crocus?

Believe it or not, crocuses belong to the Iris family and are native to the Mediterranean and parts of Asia. The history of crocus cultivation dates back to the Bronze Age, although the exact origin of crocus remains a mystery. They are small perennials, and they grow from corms, not bulbs. And if you don’t know what that means, take a look at this chart below. Source: brainly.in

Crocuses can poke out of the ground even when snow is present, but I have noticed they will only open if the weather is warm. Yesterday, all of my crocuses opened, but today the temps in Pennsylvania are dipping back into the 50’s, and the crocuses decided to stay closed.

Crocus Petals and Colors

Crocus flowers have six petals, three inner petals alternating with three outer petals and some believe they resemble a cup or chalice. The flowers are available in yellow, purple, white, pink, blue, orange, and even some striped varieties. They are low to the ground and only grow between 3 and 6 inches tall. The stamen are bright orange, the perfect color to attract bees.

Crocus Varieties

Carl Linnaeus originally included two species in his crocus findings in 1753. Today the estimated number of species of Crocus varies widely, anywhere between 80 and 160, with new species continuing to be identified all the time. Crocus Sativus, shown below, is a variety known for producing saffron, a spice, food coloring, and medicine that comes from the stamen of only the Crocus Sativus. Saffron has chemicals that might affect mood, kill cancer cells, decrease swelling, and act like antioxidants. It’s important to note that other types of crocus are known to be toxic, so if you’d like to harvest saffron, be sure you are growing Crocus Sativus. If you would like to try growing Crocus Sativus for a saffron harvest, keep in mind, that around 150 flowers produce only one gram of saffron.

The Meaning of the Crocus

The spiritual meaning of the crocus flower is centered around awakening, renewal, and transformation. In some cultures, the crocus flower is considered lucky. For example, in ancient Greece, it was believed that if you came across a crocus flower while walking, you would have good luck in the coming year. - source: foliagefriend.com

Pollination and Spreading

Bees pollinate crocuses. In early spring they provide a fantastic source of much-needed nutrition for bee colonies emerging from hibernation. When the crocus flowers bloom, they produce seeds that can be dispersed by wind or animals. However, it's important to note that crocus corms primarily reproduce through corm division rather than seed propagation. - source: shuncy.com

Preserving Crocus Blooms

Like any flower, there are three ways to preserve the crocus's beauty.

1. Submerge them in Silicone Drying Crystals (link below)

2. Lay flat on an air-circulating tray or surface (link below)

3. Press the flowers flat in a flower press (link below)

Helpful Links

If these little gems are not popping up in your yard already, why not try your hand at it? If you’d like to buy crocus corms, or items to help you dry, press, or display your perennial crocuses, use the convenient links below. If you want further instructions on flower drying, please read this blog.

Flower Drying Crystals

Herb and Flower Drying Rack

Crocus Variety Corms for Planting

Flower Press Kit

Saffron producing Crocus Sativus corms

Mini Crocus Vases

How to Design a Valentine Tree

Why I Designed a Tree FIlled with Love

As the Christmas season was coming to an end, I decided I wanted to enjoy our pretty tree a little longer. I knew I could get away with keeping our faux Balsam Hill Pine up through January dressed in its wintery guise, but what excuse did February have? That’s why, this year, I created a Valentine's Tree. Read on to see how I did it.

Transitioning a Christmas Tree

We created a pretty simple Christmas tree this year so the transition was easy. I first removed all of the Christmas balls but kept all the white lights and icicles. This step was very quick and with a semi-bare tree, I was able to then plan for February-appropriate decor.

Making a Valentine's Tree Topper

I considered keeping our glowing Moravian Star tree topper but decided that a Valentine's tree needed to better reflect Valentine’s Day. I considered a grapevine heart wreath covered in dried flowers but decided I’d like to just use found materials and make my own. This is how I did it.

Start with a basic shape

I took an old cardboard box and cut two identical free-form hearts. I then hot-glued a 10” doubled-up piece of floral wire about 4” deep inside the two panels and extended it out the bottom, so that I’d have something to wrap around the tree’s top branch. If I do it again, I will also extend the wire from each side so the heart has more stability when topping the tree.

Once the wire is secured, hot glue the hearts together. This step helps the topper to be more ridged and stable.

Designing the front of your heart topper

Start by designing one side of the heart with your dried flowers and moss. I used my professional-grade Ryobi glue gun, some reindeer moss, and the dried flowers I harvested this year. If you want to learn how to dry your own flowers, see my blog: Learn how to dry your own garden flowers. I didn’t have much of a design or plan, but I just kept filling in the cardboard as I went around the heart and eventually, one side of my heart was completely covered.

Designing side 2

When I finished side 1, I realized leaving the second side of the heart blank wouldn’t look very nice from the side view, so I cut up a coloring book, quickly glued it to the surface of the heart, and glued some leftover moss around the edges to finish it off. In retrospect, I would cover this side first with contact paper or something simple to make the job easier. You could also fill the back side with moss if you have it.

The Heart-Shaped Tree Topper

Here is the result. Not bad for a trial run. Later I’ll show you how it looks on the tree.

Hanging hearts on the Tree

Now the rest of the tree needed some LOVE-ly decor. I found these pretty heart ornaments in rose gold online. They are sold in sets of 45 so I only ordered one set. You can also get them in silver, pink, gold, red, and a pink, red & white combo.

Accenting with Vintage Valentine Cards

I also found some vintage Valentine ornaments to add some character to my tree. There are many types of interesting card ornaments to choose from on Amazon, so look around. Some are more childish which would be nice if you are creating this for your children or grandchildren.

The Unveiling

When all the little rose gold hearts and vintage Valentines were hung, I added a few large dried flowers and some colorful felt ball garlands that I had lying around.

I am very pleased with how this turned out and I’m happy I started a new tradition for our home. Don’t worry, if you’ve already removed your Christmas tree this year, you can plan for next February or grab some fallen branches from outside and place them in a garden pot to make a smaller Valentine’s Branch Tree. Anything is possible. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

0 Likes

Share

Host a Fabulous Bouquet Bar for Valentine's Day →