Plantshed Blog

8 Ways to Repurpose Dead or Dying Flowers

8 Ways to Repurpose Dead or Dying Flowers

Author: Adrianna C.

The moment that beautiful flower arrangement from your family member or significant other starts to look a little ‘sad’, you probably feel that its time to toss them in the trash. But wait! Instead of simply tossing your flowers after they begin to wilt, you can still enjoy them! Hopefully you will be inspired to try one (or a few!) of these 8 creative DIY projects to keep your flowers around a little longer.


1. Make Your Own Potpourri: Remove petals from your flowers and mix in sprigs of rosemary, lavender, or thyme to add scent. Place the mixture on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and bake for 1-2 hours at 200 degrees. Once you feel the flowers are dry, mix the potpourri into a bowl.

2. Rose Petal Bath Bomb: Bath bombs make for very relaxing (and wonderfully fragrant) baths. Combine rose petals with baking soda and citric acid to create this rose scented bath soap. For the full recipe and process, visit HGTV’s blog.

3. Frame Dead Flowers: In order to properly frame your flowers, before they start to fully wilt, tie a rubber band around the bottom of the flowers and hang them upside down to dry. You can really choose any frame for this, but we have found that a thicker frame works best. Pro Tip: Once you have your flowers set in the frame, spray them with clear spray paint or hairspray in order to keep the petals from shedding.

4. Press Flowers: Press flowers in-between the pages of heavy books and store them for a few days in a well-ventilated area to promote faster drying. You can put flowers with sentimental meaning in a decorated journal, use them for scrapbooking, or even make beautiful handmade cards with pressed flowers.

5. Use Petals For A Cleaning Solution: You can mix flower petals, baking soda, and salt to make a simple surface cleansing solution for the bathroom or kitchen counters.

6. Create A Dried Flower Wreath: Pinterest is home to many tutorials on how to make a DIY Dried Flower Wreath. Our personal favorites were a dried peony wreath and these dried hydrangea wreaths. Buy a base at your local craft store and get creative with it!

7. Make Dried Flower Candles: Using a small dab of glue, glue petals to the candle of your choice, one at a time. Press down firmly to make sure the flowers are flat against the side of the candle. You can set the flower petals on the candle by dipping it in melted paraffin wax and letting it dry for about 2 hours.

8. Rose Petal Vinegar: Heat some vinegar to a simmer and pour into a jar filled with rose petals. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap, then a cap and let sit in a cool, dark place until the desired color is reached. This step can take anywhere between one and six weeks, depending on the color of vinegar that you’re looking to see. Strain into a glass bottle for storage. Rose petal vinegar is very cooling, so it works well on inflamed areas such as bug bites and other irritated spots. Another way to use rose petal vinegar is to dilute it with water and store in a spray bottle in the refrigerator to relieve the pain of sunburn. 


Photo Sources: Pinterest