Creative Ways to Repurpose Your Old Flowers

When I lived in DC, I loved buying flowers for my apartment. Our living room had no windows, so flowers helped brighten up the space. It was always a sad day when our flowers were too dead to keep any longer. I hated seeing them end up in the trash! Given that it’s spring and Mother’s Day has just passed, I researched creative ways to use old flowers.

1. Make potpourri. If you’re someone who enjoys candles and scent diffusers, this activity is perfect for you. I found two potpourri recipes that require minimal ingredients. In this recipe you will bake your flowers and essential oils at a low temperature for a few hours. This recipe takes more time because your flowers dry naturally and then, they are sealed in an airtight jar to absorb essential oils for a few weeks. Both options look easy and simple, so you can’t go wrong!

2. Dry your flower buds and display them in a jar. It’s a pretty decoration that you can move around your home as you please. Click here for the instructional post I found on how to do this.

DIY dried roses in jar ribbon

3. Press your flowers and get creative. You can press your flowers the classic way between the pages of a heavy book or try out this quick pressing method in your microwave. Here are some creative ways to use your pressed flowers:

white daisy flowers illustration

4. Paint with your petals. Test out which flower petals transfer color directly to paper or turn the petals into natural watercolor paints. This guide from Grow Wild explains both methods. You can also “paint” with your flowers by making some pounded flower art. Release any frustrations by hammering the flower pigments onto some watercolor paper. Click here for the instructions on pounded flower art.

5. Dry your flowers so your bouquet lasts forever. Dried flower bouquets make beautiful decorations. All you have to do is tie your flowers upside down out of direct sunlight in a room with good circulation. After a few weeks, your flowers will be preserved. This ProFlowers post gives you more information on how to dry your flowers.

brown fern

6. Turn your flower petals into flower confetti. This is an eco-friendly replacement for plastic confetti to use during your next celebration! Click here to learn how to make your own flower petal confetti.

Now, you have a variety of options to prolong the joy of a flower bouquet! Have you ever repurposed flowers? Which of these activities are you looking forward to completing? ???