Harvest the pretty purple flowers to make dried lavender bunches or dried lavender buds for potpourri or sachets. Drying lavender isn’t difficult. Learn how to dry lavender, my favorite herb to grow and use.
Drying lavender starts with harvest, and that process varies depending on what you’ll do with your dried lavender. If you plan to make dried lavender bunches, clip lavender flowering stems when blooms are open at the base of the spike or roughly three-quarters of the flowers are open on each stem.
Cut lavender flowers in the morning after dew has dried. Avoid cutting stems on a rainy day. Flowers dry best—with less chance of mold or mildew—when they’re dry to start. Cut stems on the long side, especially if you’re planning to make a lavender wreath. You can always trims stems after they dry.
For drying lavender, bundle stems together so that flower heads are lined up. Use two rubber bands per dried lavender bunch—one just beneath the flower heads and one at the base of stems. Hang bundles upside down to dry in a dark, warm spot. Protect drying lavender from sunlight to retain best color, and place a sheet beneath the bundles to catch any buds or blooms that might fall. You should have dried lavender bunches in about seven to 10 days, depending on humidity.
You can also dry lavender by arranging loose stems in a basket or on a screen. Keep them in a single layer, if possible. In dry climates, gardeners sometimes place loose lavender stems on a sheet or tablecloth on a deck or driveway, covering blooms with another sheet to keep out debris. This method typically takes a week to 10 days to yield dried lavender, depending on relative humidity.
Soon our Etsy shop will offer dried lavender buds for you to use as a sachets in your dresser drawers to bring a little fragrance to your clothes, or to add to your relaxing bath waters.
