Five minute read

Standing at 90cm high, this arrangement is more akin to sculpture,
**Design By Nature**

I’m a sucker for some dried foliage with seed heads and grasses being my number one all time favourite. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re so easy to look after, whether they simply just look beautiful or even that they last forever. But I do love the fact that they are naturally biodegradable and don’t need light or water, and you’ll find plenty in my own home. The only thing you do need to be careful of is where you place them - no damp or humid areas or they’ll soon go mouldy…which definitely isn’t the look you want.

They’ve also always featured heavily in a lot of my styled shoots for commercial interiors clients, as they are such a great way to show off a vase plus are much easier to transport than fresh flowers. Don’t get me wrong, I love cut flowers as much as the next person but when it comes to longevity you can’t beat a ‘winter bouquet’ as the Victorians used to call them.

But how to style them? Do you go with a lone, larger seed head, an oversized bunch of the same type or do you mix and match a variety of types and sizes? Well you can in fact choose any of those options, and so I’d like to share some tips for showing off these beauties that will look great in any home.

Craspedia, aka, Billy Balls, H&M

If you’re not sure on how to arrange a variety of dried flowers, then sticking with the one type is a great idea, and the beauty of the ‘Billy Ball’ is in the simplicity of the globe shaped blooms - they just don’t need anything else to look good.
And if you have a sculptural vase like this one to display them in, then all the better.

Gypsophila bouquet, Dowsing & Reynolds

Gypsophila is almost prettier dried I think as the blooms have such a beautiful cloud-like form.

And you can give it a more modern edge by popping it against a stronger coloured wall as opposed to a white one - and this way you’ll show off the delicate blooms perfectly.
Pair it with a striking contemporary vase, and you’ll be about as far away from the gyp that you find amongst supermarket bouquets as you can possibly be.

Gathered style

Sticking to a similar colour palette is an easy way to make up a ‘bouquet’ when you want to combine lots of different styles of dried flowers and grasses.
And a tip, which you can see here, is to cut some of the stems shorter so that not everything sits at the top of the bouquet. That way the overall look will have a nice balance to it.

Wild Honey Bouquet, Beard and Daisies

If you want to combine lots of different style grasses, the odd palm and maybe even a few dried poppies, then sticking to the one colour is an option.
And for me this is a great way to show off dried foliage as because all of the ingredients are the same hue, you really get to focus on the beauty of the individual plants.
Plus it’s a great way to mix and match shape and form.

So can you dry your own at home?

The simple answer is yes.

According to Bloom and Wild, the easiest way is preserve them is to simply hang them upside down in a dark and dry place for a few weeks. And for anyone with a loft or attic space, I’m thinking that might be the perfect spot as it’s normally the hottest place a house anyway (in summertime of course).

Also, I must admit I did that whole ‘no-mow May’ last year which resulted in some very long grass in my garden…and I did in fact dry a huge bunch of it successfully. And I think it’s still in a vase somewhere in the house!

But the only way to find out if it will really work is to give it a try, which I would totally recommend as at the very least you get a free bunch of grasses to mix in with some bought dried foliage. Plus there is something super satisfying about drying your own.

So that’s it for today, and I hope I’ve inspired you to do a bit of dried floral arranging yourself. Just don’t forget to dust them every so often…

The art of the dried flower arrangement

For the love of a bold, wide stripe.

Ten key starter pieces for the home