Have you ever thought of self-reliant home decorating? Maybe the thought of self-reliant home decor doesn’t rank high on your list, but any time that I can get something from my backyard instead of the store, I call that a “win!”
A handful of the cut flowers I grew can also be dried for crafting. Keep reading for some varieties you may want to try growing, and for a tutorial on creating a dried flower hoop wreath.
(If you are interested in some other flowers I enjoy growing that will self-seed and regrow next year without having to plant them read this article.)
4 Easy-to-grow Dried Flowers for Crafting
Gomphrena
Globe amaranth is also called gomphrena.
My favorite stage is when it is these almost perfectly round blossoms. That’s where it gets the name of “globe” amaranth. If you let it keep growing the globes elongate into more of a gumdrop shape.
Other varieties of amaranth dry well including upright and trailing varieties. But the tiny globes ar a good scale for this type of project.
Statice
One flower that you probably already familiar with, because it is very common in grocery store bouquets is called statice.
Statice is very common in grocery store bouquets because it looks good even when it’s not fresh. That’s one of the things that makes it good for drying–it holds its shape and its color really well.
Statice is really easy to grow. It’s one of my first seedlings to pop up when I am seed-starting and it’s very hardy so you can get it started really early in the spring and might even be able to get it to overwinter where you live.
Strawflower
Straw flower is sometimes known as “everlasting flower”. It is very common for drying. It’s called strawflower because of the way that the the petals almost feel like straw.
You can harvest them at many different stages of bloom. Be aware, they will continue to open a little bit as they dry.
Strawflowers are interesting because sometimes when the front of the flower is a little over-opened–the back of the flower has a really interesting look and can be used as well.
Strawflower is wired by making a “U” out of the wire and pressing it through the center from front to back. Then twist the two ends of the wire together to make a bendable “stem”.
Bunny Tails
Bunny tails technically aren’t a cut flower–they are a grass. But they are so much fun in dried flower arrangements.
Mine did not have the longest stems, but long enough for a wreath project.
Constructing a Dried Flower Hoop Wreath
In addition to the dried flowers, some other supplies that you will need for this project are floral paddle wire, nippers or scissors, and a hot glue gun.
Hot glue is the fastest material to work with. You can work with craft glue if you want it just takes longer to dry.
Finally, for the hoop you will need a wooden embroidery hoop.
Embroidery hoops come in a lot of different sizes. The wood is a nice natural material that goes well with the flowers.
They have two pieces to them so when you buy an embroidery hoop you actually can make two wreaths from it. Just make sure to cover up the hardware with flowers.
To create the floral swag on the wreath you need to construct a number of tiny little bouquets. Doing this gives a more even feel and a more balanced look to the swag on the wreath.
Once you have created a little bouquet or a little bundle. You can wrap wire around the stems to hold it together. (Or use the wire from the strawflower if you have wired it.
Then glue the little bundle onto the hoop. Continue making these little bundles of flowers.
Glue the second bundle down over the stems of the first little bundle to cover up the stems.
After doing 2 in the first direction go about a quarter of the way around the hoop and place and glue the next bouquet with the stems going the opposite direction so that the stems are pointing back toward the first two bundles.
Layer the bundles as thick as you want. I have done two in each direction.
In the middle there will be this place where the stems are crossing over, or touching. Cover that area with straw flower blossoms. If any blossoms don’t have a stem– glue it to this stem of another of another flower.
Once the middle is filled in with strawflowers, look over the wreath to see where it needs a little bit of filling in or if it needs a pop of color somewhere and individually add a few extra flowers or bunny tails.
If you glue in the bunny tails in with their stems a little bit long — they will have some movement in them. Instead of just being stuck next to the flowers.
There are a couple different ways that you can hang a hoop wreath. One way is to hang it with the floral swag down on the bottom or over the top.
Another way to hang it is to have the flowers off to one side.
If you want to see me demonstrate the construction of these wreaths, watch the video below:
