Place petals on parchment paper, bake at 200 degrees for 10-12 minutes, depending on oven and latitude
Click below to hear the crackle of baked petals, sort of like crunchy leaves in autumn . . . in Florida, not!
How it began:
A fresh-petal illustration from Mennonite Daughter, Chapter 10: Lipstick and Other Forbidden Delights
Do you enjoy baking, or crafting?
Any other tips for drying flowers?
Drying rose petals is a form of recycling. How do you recycle creatively?
Next “Plain and Fancy” blog post: a Hallowe’en party here on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 🙂
Good morning, Marian! I’ve dried herbs, but never rose petals.
Good morning to you too. Usually “bought” roses are pretty to look at but have little fragrance. These were so aromatic, I had to do something special with them. Thanks, Merril! 🙂
I have some flowers flattened between pages of books, but I’ve never dried them. Interesting idea. I will think of it the next time I am admiring their scent.
Good idea, Arlene! It takes a little time, but you’ve created a nice keepsake. 🙂
Like Arlene, I remember flattening the first rose I received from a boy in high school between the pages of my Bible.
I’m guessing you don’t still have the rose – or the Bible now. But I may be wrong, especially if you married the rose-giver. 🙂
I did the same, Jill, but I didn’t put it between the pages of my Bible! I can’t recall which book, but it was probably the dictionary or a thick novel.
😀
Thanks for the tip Marian! I have in the past gathered dying rose petals in a pretty container, just for their lingering scent and as an ornament. I love your idea of baking them and putting them into a pretty little bag – lovely present for someone/s. Can even spray the little bag with a rose scent before gifting – just because .. and a wonderful idea for recycling. I recycle just about everything – tedious to do so but a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do … mmmm, i could try drying herbs I suppose …
Susan, I had thought of spraying the sachets with rose scent to deepen and extend the aroma, but I never got around to it. Yes, I’m not surprised that you are into recycling. Our city began recycling over 20 years ago. I blush to think of all the throwaways I just threw into the trash before that.
Thanks for reading, my friend, and for the tip too. 🙂
I’ve never tried that method of drying flowers, but I used to collect leaves of different shapes and put them between pages of a book. Next time I get a bouquet of Rose’s, I’ll try your method. Thanks for the tip. 👍
You are welcome, Fatima. Pressing leaves into the pages of a book is a good idea. Somewhere in my Bible I can probably find a brittle Japanese maple leaf I gathered before Mother’s house was sold. I’ve also pressed leaves between two sheets of wax paper and ironed them lightly. It preserves leaves but they don’t look as pretty as pressing them in a book. 🙂
What a delightful post, Marian! Thank you for that video! I wish I had drying methods. I’ve seen people hang flowers from the ceiling to dry them, but I’ve never done that. I’ve also found flower petals still between the pages of books years later. 😄
I dry baby’s breath, not upside down, but just in a vase – upright. I remember drying other flowers, but can’t remember which ones, maybe hydrangeas or lavender. Here’s what Google suggests: https://www.almanac.com/news/gardening-news/how-to-dry-flowers#
Glad you enjoyed the post, L. Marie! 🙂
Bravo for your project. The little white bags make me think you’re are planning a party or something. I have some dried roses in various vases from our daughters’ weddings. Can’t quite bear to part with them. I will some day. I must go sniff those old petals to see if they still sniff. And, I noticed yesterday, I see a last rose of summer still forthcoming in our front flower bed!
At first, my project was motivated by the deep scent of the roses, nothing more. I couldn’t bear to just throw them into the woods because they had such a rose-y scent. No party, but I have given them away as part of a birthday gift or a keepsake for the nursery workers at church I don’t see anymore.
Cheers to the last rose of summer. I wonder what you’ll do with it, Melodie. 🙂
Earlier I missed that you baked these petals in the oven. I never thought of that. I bet your oven smelled rosey too.
Ha! I didn’t put my nose in the oven to check, but it may have. Thanks for the observation, Melodie.
Marian — Thank you for the wonderful tip. I’m going to test-drive it and see how it goes.
I can see the tip tag: Blooms in Boise, hanging out to dry. 🙂
Thanks for offering to test-drive the tip, Laurie!
We used to live in a house with 14 rose bushes, large ones. Every fall I’d dry the petals and then put them in sachets to put in our closet. I haven’t thought about that in years. Thanks for the memory. Also, your bouquet was pretty. Those colors…
The bouquet came from my husband, a birthday gift. The white orchid from my daughter . . . and the yellow hisbiscus, a patio bloom. Roses don’t grow well here in Florida, except for the knock-out variety, pretty but not very fragrant. Glad the photos primed your memory, Ally. 🙂
I have dried roses naturally and then saved the petals. It’s amazing how long the scent lasts. The video was great. Thanks.
Good for you. I’m glad you liked the video. At first I thought of crinkling potato chips. Then . . . of course it’s fall here in the States, so I bowed to that idea. Thanks, Darlene!
Thanks for the tip on drying rose petals, Marian. I usually just left them out to dry, eventually usually threw them out! Love the picture of you kneeling under the rose bush!
Elflrieda, you probably recognize the art work from Mennonite Daughter, one of Cliff’s drawings in Chapter 13. Thanks for commenting here so faithfully. 🙂
For some reason my “Likes” are not going through. But this is very interesting and clever. Thank you for sharing.
I have that trouble too, Ann. Somehow if the blog I’m commenting on is not automatically linked to WordPress, I cannot post a LIKE. I don’t know why that happens.
Anyway, I’m glad, at least, you were able to comment. Good to see you here again! 🙂
All roses I’ve ever received as floral gifts are dried on their stems and saved in containers. I have given some away to youngest daughter. Also press leaves and wildflowers (collected on various trips around the country decades ago) in books to dry, then display them in photo book pages. Also, collect seashells (whole and broken) and make ornament gifts for family and friends. Love to paint on scallop shells. Collect conifer cones, acorns to use in projects. Collect wasp nests and bird nests. Display all these natural beauties at home now and bring some along whenever I talk to children. These are a few of my favorite things! <3
Bette, you are a natural at art-making and crafting: phenomenal use of the gifts of nature. When I read your comment, I thought of Julie Andrews singing at the top of her lungs:
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
… When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad
Your list of props for your talks include things that children love, even city kids less exposed to the beauties of nature. Brava, I say! 🙂
Great tip, Marian! On our shady grounds under our mini-forest, roses don’t grow very well. So I’ll either have to wait for someone (?) to buy me a bunch or I’ll have to buy a bunch myself! Loved the crackling!
Sherrey, maybe you could let Bob see this post, including your comment, hint-hint! Thanks for reading and listening to the crackling, which also reminds me of potato chips – ha! 🙂
Go ahead, treat yourself . . .
You did well! I have dried roses on a string hanging upside down from their stems, but it has been a long time. Last time was in a bathroom shower at a job I once worked at. Unfortunately once my boss came in while I was hanging them, not seeing me behind the shower wall and did his ‘business.’ It was pretty embarrassing for both of us! So don’t recommend hanging them in a bathroom shower. lol!
Lynn, you take the prize for the best (and most embarrassing) flower drying story on my blog today. Yes, LOL!
Huge thanks for your comment! 🙂
Hi Marian, I’ve never tried baking the rose petals. I just put them in a vase and let them dry naturally. I have rose petals from my cousin Linda’s memorial service and my Aunt Rose’s funeral. Every time I look at them a special memory of these loved ones pops up.
Ah, there you are, Kathy! From my teaching days I recall Ophelia saying in Hamlet: “There’s rosemary for remembrance.” Of course, roses would work too. I’m glad you have these keepsakes of loved ones, to jog the memory.
Drying flowers would be a lot easier, but I think the thought behind baking is to arrest the decay and hold the fragrance. This time, I tried the oven method on a whim because the roses’ scent was so strong. Take care, my dear, and thanks for popping in today. ((( )))
Do the petals smell nice after drying and “roasting”, Marian? I love this kind of recycling. I rarely ever have fresh flowers in my possession, but your blog post reminded me of my wedding bouquet way back when. There’s a story about that as well, which I touch upon in my memoir. 🙂
Yes, they smelled “rosie,” but I think I may have had a better result if I had baked them a day or two earlier, but who knows.
I can’t wait to read your memoir, which I surely will do. A story about a wedding bouquet sounds intriguing. Actually, I may have seen a bridal photo on your blog.
Write on! And don’t forget to take breaks. 🙂
Interesting method of drying. I would never have thought about the oven. I used to dry flowers by hanging them upside down in a dry room for few days. Your method is much quicker. 🙂
I like the idea of drying in bunches upside down, especially with lavender or baby’s breath, which I’ve done. I think the oven method arrests the decline of the decay and preserves the scent better.
Actually, I’ve seen multiple flower bunches hanging as a window treatment if you like the cottage effect . . . wouldn’t work too well in my house. Thanks for adding your thoughts here, Debby. 🙂
Thanks for the the drying in over tip! 🙂
🙂
I have dried flowers and herbs upside down and between book pages but never heard of this idea…They looked so pretty in those little bags 🙂
I agree, Carol. They become sachets for lingerie drawers or cute party favors, even part of a birthday gift. Thanks for joining the conversation here today. 🙂
Oh how nice – those are sachets? I enjoyed hearing the crackle too!
Yes, they are sachets, and they crackle too when you squeeze them, Barbara! 🙂
‘ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ‘ Ahhhh! I love that quote and I love roses . I have never attempted to dry them but those I have seen dried seem to lose their colour and perfume so not my thing but I do press autumn leaves . I opened a book the other day and some beautiful golden leaves came tumbling out , beautifully preserved . Such a treasure to find .🍂🍁
Cherryx
There you are, Cherryx! Yes, I’m including the “x” here too, my dear Welsh friend. And it seems you are a fan of Romeo and Juliet too. I wonder if you have brilliant autumn leaves still on the trees yet, or if it’s just the golden one that came tumbling out from the page.
Thanks heaps! 🙂
I’m not a craftsperson in any way. Wish I was, but I use that time to craft words into stories. I do love flowers and always have fresh flowers in my home. Not roses usually because they’re pretty expensive, but orchid plants, daisies, tulips, Iris, Gladioli when they’re in season. Right now I have a vase of velvety purple, green and magenta coleus on our dining room table. They were in our outside flower garden and I cut some before the frost could kill them two night’s ago.
I also have some hydrangea branches/flowers in my house that I cut off a month ago. They slowly dried out from deep purple to soft lavender and sit in a vase near my writing desk. Huh. I guess I’m kinda crafty with flowers. ;-0 But not like your fabulous dried rose pedals.
Pam, I don’t consider myself a craft person either, except as you describe, a wordsmith, if anything. However, my birthday flowers from Cliff inspired me because they were so fragrant. He says he didn’t spend that much for them at Sam’s Wholesale, so . . . that was the inspiration.
Ordinarily, I decorate with fresh or dried flowers as you do. Sadly, I don’t have gladiolus or hydrangeas down here, which I love. Your colors sound heavenly.
At the moment, there is a palmetto frond above our fireplace and sprigs of pine on the table behind my sofa. I’m glad we can exchange flowery notes here. Thanks, Pam! 🙂
Believe me, come winter I am soooo jealous of your space, your porch, your ‘live’ plants and flowers. Winter is tough for me because all flowering beings are dead (well, or in hibernation). That’s why I need to spread colorful flowers in my house all seasons. Around here, in early March when everything is brown and dry and frozen outside, the stores sell thousands of bunches of daffodils, and I place them in a dozen vases around my house. Hope for spring. ;-0 To one flower lover from another. (Love the idea of the frond and pine sprigs!)
Everything is a trade-off, I guess. We have sauna-like heat with humidity for 5-6 months every year, the price we pay for our flora. You have the 4 seasons and fall foliage, which I envy – ha!
So…we decorate our interiors, Sista Pam! 🙂
Well said! 🌸🌺🌼🍁🌞
Beautiful! I can almost smell that heavenly fragrance from here.
I’m glad this post hit you right in the nose, a wonderful reaction, Lady Fi. Thanks! 🙂