When we bought our house, a couple of lavender plants were the first one I picked up for the garden. Then a couple more to use them for companion planting in the veggie garden beds. We now have quite a few different varieties going as borders, in pots and in the veggie garden too. I adore them. This year, I decided to dry some to use for different purposes, so I did and I thought I’ll share here How to Dry Lavender Flowers.
And don’t we all love lavender? With it’s distinctly fragrant purple flowers and great foliage and edging – as well as bug repellent properties, lavender is a garden favourite and first class companion plant in the veggie garden.
Lavender is part of the mint family. Sometimes it’s grown as a culinary herb, also for the extraction of essential oils, for use in traditional medicine, cosmetics and personal care products. It’s one the most popular flowers that you can grow to help to feed the bees and other pollinators.
When to plant it: April or May
Peak blooming: June to August depending on the variety.
How to dry lavender?
It’s actually very easy to dry lavender. Here are the steps:
Step 1.
I use mature lavender because I wanted them to feed the bees before cutting them.
Cut the flowers just above the first set of top leaves. (This will also help lavender to grow stronger as pruning is beneficial for the plant, it is recommended to prune lavender at the end of the season.)
Step 2.
Gather it into small bunches of approximately 15 pieces and tie the end of the bunch with a string or rubber band. (I had this lovely lavender colour yarn I borrowed from my daughter.) The smaller bunches dry more evenly.
Step 3.
Hang them up in a dark place or at least a dry spot, upside down. The dark is meant to preserve the vividness of the purple flowers. But, if you don’t have any spot like that, just keep them away from direct sunlight and provide some airflow for them.
Step 4.
Wait for it to dry, it normally takes 2-4 weeks. When you brush the flowers, they will just fall from the stems. You can leave the flowers on the stems or brush them off to use in little sachets.
How to use dry lavender?
Once the flowers are dried, there are many great way to use dried lavender, from filling little cotton bags and using them as scented air fresheners for your linen cupboard to culinary uses as decorating cakes and bakes with them Of course you can even leave them on the stem and use it as dry flower decoration. Let’s the the best ones!
Make your own scented drawer air fresheners
Make your clothes smell nice and get rid of the “drawer smell” – just put lavender cotton or lined bags filled with dried lavender in your drawers and closets. This is also an excellent moth repellent!
Similarly, the little bags can be used anywhere as air freshener, even in your car – you can say goodbye to the sickening synthetic car air freshener smells!
Make your own lavender syrup
I’m just learning to make syrups practically from everything, it’s fantastic! I made magnolia syrup this spring, which I was obsessed with. Here’s a recipe for the lavender syrup:
- 400g sugar
- 200ml water
- 3g culinary grade dried lavender
- Optional: a splash of lemon juice
In a saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow it to steep for about 10 minutes. Remove the flowers before serving the syrup.
Make your own bath salt
Lavender bath salts are the most popular ones as their natural aroma really completes the bath experience when you aim for a relaxed and soothing soak. And it’s very easy to make your own lavender bath salt. All you need is:
- 100g Epsom salt
- 50g parts of coarse sea salt
- 2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
- 15-20 drops of lavender essential oil
Store the lavender bath salt in an airtight jar or container. To use the bath salts just sprinkle them into your bath water.
Make your own potpourri
Back in the 90s potpourri was very popular – maybe it’s time for a revival. For any potpourri, you need to mix different dried flower petals, dried fruit peels, herbs and spices, dried tree bark and similar natural dried ingredients. If you want it to smell like lavender, mix in dried lavender, with a few drops of lavender essential oil. Mix it all together in a bowl or jar and use it to scent rooms and bathrooms.
Make your own lavender tea
To make your own, homemade lavender tea, you’ll need culinary lavender dried at home and similarly to mint tea for example, just boil the water and place 1 tablespoon of dried lavender (or more if you like it) in a tea strainer. Let it infuse the water for a few minutes and just enjoy.
Make your own lavender scented universal cleaner
I only use natural cleaning products such as vinegar and bicarbonate of soda based products and I often make my own, like this Citrus Infused Multipurpose Vinegar Cleaner Recipe.
To make a use of the dried lavender flowers – this is another fab way: make your own lavender scented universal cleaner:
- 1 part dried lavender
- 4 parts vinegar
- glass jar
Place the lavender buds in the jar and pour the vinegar in. Cover jar and let it sit for 2-3 weeks. Strain the lavender flowers from the vinegar. Add the mixture to a spray bottle and use.
There are many other ways, you can also use dried lavender such as homemade bath bombs, candles, foot scrubs to mention just some – so it’s worth knowing how to dry lavender flowers.