Growing and drying everlasting flowers

Who wouldn't want to be able to pick a bouquet of flowers that will last in a vase for weeks? With everlasting flowers you can enjoy your blooms all year round, and they are also easy to grow!

Everlastings are not a single flower variety but a collective name for flowers that can be dried without losing their colour or shape. Examples of everlastings include the strawflowers Swiss giants, timeless roses and sea lavender. However, there are many other varieties of flowers that are suitable for drying, such as baby’s breath, hoary stock and cornflowers.

It's not just the flowers that are suitable

Some flowers are considered to be everlasting because of their decorative seed heads. Poppies probably have the most popular seed heads, but Nigella and flax are also beautiful after flowering. The white flowers of starflower turn into beautifully star-shaped seed pods that look great in most bouquets. There are also many varieties of ornamental grasses that produce beautiful stems that are perfect for drying.

Opium poppies are not only stunningly beautiful when in flower – like other poppy varieties, they have pretty seed pods.

How to grow everlastings

1. Start everlasting seeds indoors for earlier flowering. It is also possible to sow them directly in the garden, but the soil must be warm. Sometime between May and June is usually the right time. Always read the instructions on the seed packet carefully.
2. If you started your seeds indoors, get your plants used to the outdoors and plant them out in the garden when there is no longer any risk of frost.
3. As an example, on Swiss giants, you should pinch off the first bud. This may seem harsh, but it helps the plant to branch out and produce more flowers.
   
   
4. Water in times of drought and weed as usual during the season.

Different varieties of grass are easy to dry and add volume to your arrangements.

When should I pick my everlastings?

Flowers to be dried should be picked during dry weather, when they have just opened their petals. Remove the leaves from the stems, gather them into small bouquets and hang the bouquets upside down in a dark, dry place until they have dried.

When you're going to dry everlastings, you don't want to pick the flowers too early or too late – they should have had time to open, but not yet started to wilt.

How long do everlastings last?

Cut everlasting flowers last for several weeks in a vase, which is much longer than many other summer flowers. If you choose to dry your everlastings, they will last much longer – until the following summer. That’s why they are called everlasting flowers.