Arrange dried flowers

Dried flowers are the easiest way to have flowers at home all season. You buy a bundle, put it in a vase and it’s done: no water, no cutting, no throwing them away after a week. The only skill is making a good dried flower arrangement, and that mostly comes down to a few simple rules about height, shape and restraint. It’s a good evening with tea.

What you need beyond the list

• A clean, dry vase or jar. A heavier one, or one with a narrow neck, holds stems better.
• A pair of sharp scissors or secateurs.
• A bit of scrunched paper, floral foam or chicken wire, if your vase is wide.
• A soft brush, for dusting.

Choose your flowers

A shop-bought bundle is the easiest, and it’s usually a mix that already goes together. If you pick your own, a mix of three kinds of things looks good.

• Big focal flowers. Strawflowers, dried roses, protea, hydrangea and dahlias.
• Filler. Statice, baby’s breath, lavender, ammobium and small seed heads.
• Grasses and texture. Wheat, oats, bunny tail grass, pampas or ferns, which add height and movement.

For fall, warm colours go well together: rust, mustard, cream, burnt orange and soft brown. A few dark or green stems stop it from looking flat.

Step by step

1. Unwrap the bundle carefully and lay the stems on the table. Dried stems are brittle.
2. Sort them into groups: tall grasses, medium flowers, small fillers.
3. Start with the tallest. Place two or three of the grasses or the longest stems in the vase to set the height. The usual guide is that the arrangement should be about one and a half times the height of the vase, but go with your eye.
4. Add the big flowers. Cut them to different lengths, so some sit lower and some higher. Put the largest toward the middle and a bit low.
5. Add the filler. Tuck it between the bigger stems to fill gaps.
6. Turn the vase as you go. Look at it from every side.
7. Step back. Look at the shape. If there’s a gap, fill it. If there’s a bump, trim it.
8. Trim the stems if you need to. Cut at an angle with sharp scissors.

You can use fewer flowers than you think. A loose arrangement with space around the stems looks calmer than a tight bunch.

Dried flower arrangement ideas: shapes that work

• The loose bunch. Gather the stems in your hand and put them in together, letting them fall naturally. Good for tall vases.
• One kind, many stems. A whole vase of wheat or bunny tail grass looks clean and modern.
• The asymmetric shape. Let the tallest stems lean to one side, and keep the other side low.
• A small bud vase. Three or four stems in a small bottle, put on a windowsill.
• A tall, spare arrangement. A few long stems in a heavy vase.

Mistakes to avoid

• All the stems the same height. It looks like a bunch from a shop. Vary the height.
• Too many kinds. Stick to three or four for a calm look.
• Water in the vase. Dried flowers should stay dry.
• Overcrowding. Leave space so each stem shows.
• Bright direct sun. It fades colours quickly.
• A top-heavy arrangement. If it tips, weigh the bottom of the vase with some pebbles or sand, or use a heavier vase.

Keeping them looking good

Dust them every few weeks with a soft brush, or with a hairdryer on its coolest, lowest setting from a distance. Keep them out of damp rooms and away from flames and heaters, because dried plants burn easily. Some pieces shed, such as wheat and pampas, so put a tray or a small cloth underneath if you’re worried about the shelf.

If a stem breaks, trim it shorter and put it back in. When the arrangement starts to look tired, take it apart, throw out the broken pieces and rearrange what’s left.

Make it a fall evening

Pick up a bundle on the way home, make a pot of tea and put on some music. After that, move the vase to the table or a shelf and see where it works best. If you’ve been on a walk, add a few pressed leaves or grasses you picked up on the way. Dried flowers also make a thoughtful gift for a friend’s new place.