modern everlastings.

These aren’t faded or dusty dried flowers

A version of this story first appeared online at Johnny's Selected Seeds.

Like the fashion industry’s penchant for updating popular silhouettes from decades past, the floral marketplace is rediscovering the incredible value and design potential of dried botanicals. Today’s growers can choose from a much wider lineup of ingredients for their dried-flower programs, and florists welcome the increased variety of colors, textures, and forms for their designs.

We spoke with four Slow Flowers Society members, farmer-florists who discuss their approaches to growing flowers for drying, as well as how they use dried flowers as an important revenue stream in their enterprises. This article covers three phases in the lifecycle of dried botanicals: Selection and Planning; Growing, Harvesting, and Drying; and Designing, Pricing, and Selling.

Our experts include: Bethany Little of Charles Little & Co. (Eugene,

Oregon); Heather Henson of Boreal Blooms (Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada); Meryl Gartside of Blue Lobster Flower Farm (Cape Cod, Massachusetts); and Tiffany Anderson of Earth & Seeds Flower Farm (Reno, Nevada).

Selection And Planning

Dried flowers have been a significant part of Boreal Blooms’ product mix for the past six years, said Heather Henson. “Our growing season in northern Alberta is extremely short for fresh flowers – it’s about three months long. It’s not possible for me to make a good living with fresh flowers alone. I was looking for a way to make my farm viable, and it turns out that dried flowers do really well here in our cold, dry winter climate. I have been able to slowly create a market and a fan base of people who love dried flowers, and our dried bouquets are a mainstay of the business.”

Similarly, Reno’s short growing season has inspired Tiffany Anderson to expand her emphasis on dried flowers at Earth & Seeds. “As we shift into fall and winter here in the high desert, we no longer have fresh flowers. So, it’s all about everlastings, as well as grasses and pods, and other things you leave in your fields that age when temperatures turn colder. Dried flowers are seasonal flowers. When we turn these ingredients into home décor, it gives us the ability to talk to our community about what seasonal flowers are. We discuss the high environmental cost of imported flowers, and embrace what we have in our climate and environment right now.”

Some of Tiffany’s favorite annuals include cornflower, nigella, and poppies grown for their pods; perennial Veronica, herbs, and hydrangeas are also top Earth & Seeds crops. “I also tried growing broom corn last year, which was really cool to play with, especially for wreaths. And I found blushing lantern (Silene vulgaris) to be so useful.”

Over the past seven years, Meryl Gartside has changed the focus of what Blue Lobster Flower Farm grows. “Now, when I’m planning my crops, I’m selecting for what will dry well. And it’s not just strawflowers and gomphrena. I’m drying crops that most people don’t know you can dry. With the right conditions, when harvested at the right time, you can dry so many types of flowers.”

At Boreal Blooms, Heather produces masses of annuals including larkspur, statice, strawflowers, celosia, and sunflowers. “These are basic, bulk ingredients that I use in everything, so I need a ton of them,” she said. "For new flower farmers, or for those just getting started with drying, annuals provide an easy way to jump in –they are so economical! You can take so many cuts from a single stem of larkspur, for example. A single stem of statice produces one or two mains stem for the bouquet, and then all the side shoots, which I can use for flower crowns, boutonnieres or wreaths. And I keep everything I prune for other projects.”

At Charles Little & Co., Bethany Little joked that her mantra, “Everything Dries,” should be printed on a T-shirt. “People call me all the time and ask whether a specific flower can be dried and I tell them – yes, everything dries,” she said. “But you have to grow the right crops, harvest at the right time, and dry in the right environment.”

GROWING, HARVESTING, & DRYING

At Charles Little & Co., during the “first wave” of dried flowers in the 1990s, Charles erected a threestory barn, devoting the third level and its vaulted loft to flower drying. “It gets over 100 degrees there and we have ventilation and lots of fans,” Bethany explained.

The right stage of harvest is closely related to color fastness and flower stability. “Watch your crops carefully, because you’ll learn that everything has a specific ‘best harvest time’ for drying. We grow over 50 different varieties specifically to harvest only for drying – it’s not an afterthought.”

Bethany and others interviewed for this story mentioned that it’s best to cut strawflowers when the bloom is tight to avoid shattering. That’s because the flowers do tend to open after they are cut. “Many varieties, like the rose or pink ones, have fatter stems, which means there’s more energy to feed that bloom. Your flowers, in general, will keep maturing when hung,” Bethany said. Similarly, with ornamental grasses like miscanthus, the best harvest stage is when the blooms are silky, tight, and have not begun to drop pollen. After mostly drying flowers on rafters in her Cape Cod basement—with a dehumidifier to reduce moisture—and after experimenting with hanging flowers to dry in her home’s hot attic, Meryl now uses a 9-by-12foot farm shed to dry her flowers. “It’s the perfect environment,” she explained. “There is no direct sun because the shed is nestled in the trees; it’s warm in the summer with everything closed up. I no longer have to climb up on rickety stairs because we have rigged a drop ceiling of a cattle panel that can be raised and lowered to hang bunches.”

Bloom size and petal color are important factors in how a flower looks when dried. Heather plucks the largest flower heads of her ranunculus, peonies, and lisianthus to ensure they dry well. “Things shrink by 30% to 50% when you dry them, so I know that the biggest flowers make the best dried flowers. A sunflower is going to shrink a lot, so I cut the enormous sunflowers that I probably would never put in a fresh bouquet to dry. And I pick the most perfect, beautiful peonies to dry.”

Meryl also considers petal hue as a factor in drying. She said peach and blush blooms often appear faded, while a flower that’s vivid when fresh will dry in subtle patinas. “I dry a lot of dark purples and burgundies, and any brightcolored dahlia or zinnia will usually give a good result when dried,” Meryl explained. Some flowers hold their white color when dried, she noted, including strawflower, gomphrena, feverfew, larkspur, and ammobium.

DESIGNING, PRICING, & SELLING

As a former graphic designer Meryl considers dried botanicals as art supplies for wreaths and other Blue Lobster Flower Farm products. “I love playing with color and texture,” she said. “So many dried flowers can be fantastically colorful. They might be a little muted, but I’ve also grown to love that look. Sometimes there’s a total color shift when something is dried. You can’t plan for or hybridize these subtle and beautiful shades of color.”

Meryl feels that her one-of-a-kind dried flower wreaths (rather than ones made from a recipe) have added value. While the Instagram photo of her all-echinops wreath generated more than 7,000 likes a few years back, and while she is always asked to make similar ones, that’s not what excites her as a designer. “I’m not in it for that. I want to be creative,” she said.

Boreal Blooms’ reputation for dried wedding bouquets has become almost a year-round niche for Heather Henson. Her distinctive designs do not resemble dried bouquets of past decades. She removes all of the foliage and side stems from each floral element in order to make a compact, spiral, hand-tied bouquet.

“Dried wedding bouquets are an underserved niche, especially here in what I think is the most beautiful province in Canada, where people love outdoor weddings with the Rocky Mountains as their backdrop.

Dried bouquets are well suited for snowy, winter weddings, but my customers want them year-round, so I now sell dried flower bouquets for summer weddings. A bouquet made from dried flowers is an automatic keepsake,” she said.

Earth & Seeds’ florist customers buy from Tiffany on a year-round basis, including nigella, poppy pods, ammobium, strawflower, and gomphrena. “I can also sell these dried varieties in summer, because they add such textural elements to their designs.”

In general, Tiffany said she adds a 18-20% markup on her dried crops. “That reflects the extra time it takes to dry and store flowers after I’ve harvested them.”

All of these farmer-florists take care to educate customers about the shelf life of the dried flowers they purchase. “My wreaths certainly could last longer, but I tell people to come back in one year to buy a new wreath, because they deserve it,” Meryl joked. “A hair dryer on the low, cool setting can blow away any dust, but over time, the flowers will fade.”

Heather provides a care card with each custom dried bouquet. “It talks about keeping flowers out of the sun and away from cats. And I suggest customers keep their dried bouquets in a low-humidity environment and free of dust.”

Everything Dries

Tiffany Anderson believes dried flowers underscore the message of seasonality. “You have to grow it to show it, and what we grow helps to get people excited about flowers and nature, especially in the fall and winter.”

There is nothing more sustainable than finding an after-life use for a fresh flower that you may have in excess, or that you plant specifically to harvest and dry. At the very least, the experiences of these growers are a strong encouragement for you to experiment with growing, cutting, and drying a wide variety of stems from your fields or vases. Let beauty live on with a new purpose.

CHARLES

EARTH + SEEDS | WEBSITE

BLUE LOSTER FARM | WEBSITE

BOREAL BLOOMS | WEBSITE