I’ve been enjoying my roses and decided to dry several this week to keep for projects. Pinterest has many dried rose ideas: wreaths, wall-hangings, napkin rings, potpourri, are just a few of the many crafts. I’m hoping to try out a few ‘pins’ in the cooler months when I am longing for fresh flowers.

I’ve been using my dehydrator to dry the roses. The dehydrator has five trays stacked above a heating unit. I space the roses out on the trays so that they have plenty of air flow. The lowest setting works great and doesn’t seem to cause much browning.

One trick I’ve learned is to also dry a few rosebuds and leaves for a natural look when arranging.

I switch the trays around bottom to top, and so on, every twenty minutes. This gives all the levels a chance to dry in the higher heat of the bottom.

When the flowers seem dry, but before they begin to brown on the edges, I put them on a metal tray and lay it on the floor of my car with closed windows. I tent newspaper over the top if the sun is shining through the windows.

The last step is to give the roses a few weeks of open-air storage. To do this I cut away the bottom of brown paper shopping bags, pinch the corners so they stay open, and lay the flowers inside. I place these bags on a mesh drying rack hanging in a closet and keep the doors shut for darkness.   I am going to purchase some floral fixative at a hobby/craft store to keep the petals secure in a few weeks. (I think hairspray works too.) When winter days and nights get long it will be fun to pull out these flowers and get creative.

I also dry many herbs in the same way. On the rack with the roses is catnip. dried chive blossoms, and lemon balm.