Drying Lavender

Drying lavender is very simple to do. Follow these steps and you will have bunches of dried lavender to decorate your home, make wreathes, drawer scent, soaps, ice cream, jelly - limitless. It's pretty to look at and delightfully fragrant.

You can follow the step by step photo tutorial or watch the short video which will talk you through the steps.

The tools for drying lavender are very simple - here you have garden twine, scissors and of course, lavender.

Cut it when the flowers on the stem are fully open.

It's best to cut it early in the day before the sun is too hot but after the morning dew has dried off.

There are 8 stems of fresh lavender here. That is enough to put per bunch.

You don't want to overcrowd them as they need air to circulate to dry properly.

Cut a good length of green twine. I would say about 2 feet, 24 inches, 60 cm.

Hold the stems together and twist the twine a few times about halfway down.

Tie the twine in a bow.

This is better than knotting as you can undo it easier and also use it for hanging.

Some people suggest using elastic bands, as the stems can shrink a little whilst drying.

You would still need to add some string to hang it up.

You will have to find somewhere dark, dry and airy. That's pretty difficult in a modern house. I use my understairs cupboard. I have screwed a hook into the plasterboard which is quite strong enough to take a couple of bunches of drying herbs.

You could add more hooks to dry herbs if you wanted to. They are just little gold cup hooks.

Here is the finished product - dried lavender. As you can see, it keeps its colour to a greater extent. It becomes muted, not as vibrant, but the fragrance is as strong.

You can use these bunches to scent your wardrobes, drawers, rooms, in pot pourri or to make a dried lavender wreath.

Lavender Body Scrub

About Lavender

Growing Lavender