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31 Fantastic Straw Flowers (Including Photos)

Although there is a plant called the Straw Flower, generally speaking, the term Straw Flowers can refer to any flowers that can be dried to make dried flowers for bouquets and flower arrangements.

Straw Flowers

The best plants for dried flowers are those that have a small calyx and hold their petals tightly; retaining their form and color when dried.

Less expensive than fresh flowers and more eco-friendly, people are seeing the benefits of dried flower bridal bouquets and vases of long-lasting and low-maintenance, home-dried garden flowers.

There are many glorious flowers that can be dried. Here are some to whet your appetite.

1. Strawflower (Xerochrysum Bracteatum)

Strawflower (Xerochrysum Bracteatum)

An Australian native, the Strawflower is a part of the Asteraceae family. The blossoms impart vibrant colors to gardens and craft projects.

Strawflowers resemble daisies, but their petals are stiff and papery. The petals are actually bracts, which are modified leaves.

They are sometimes called Paper Daisy, Golden Everlasting, Everlasting Flower, and Everlasting Daisy. Cultivars can have matching or contrasting centers.

See: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/strawflowers/

https://www.thejoyofplants.co.uk/strawflower#:~:text=The%20flowers%20of%20strawflower%20(Xerochrysum,%2C%20purple%2C%20white%20and%20orange.

https://www.thespruce.com/everlasting-strawflower-1315716

2. Salmon Rose (Helichrysum Bracteatum)

Salmon Rose (Helichrysum Bracteatum)

These papery, shiny, daisy-like flowers have a delightfully calming color.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

3. Sternkugel (Scabiosa Stellata)

Sternkugel (Scabiosa Stellata)

This plant has spherical heads, each composed of twenty or so individual, pale blue flowers. The blooms are tightly packed together.

When dried, the globular heads turn into creamy-white spherical posies, as though fashioned from translucent parchment. Truly scintillating in their splendor!

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

4. Floss Flower (Ageraturm)

Floss Flower (Ageraturm)

The Floss Flower has fluffy flowers with a compact form that can be blue, pink, or white.

https://www.gardendesign.com/annuals/ageratum.html

5. Aloha Blanca (Centaurea Americana)

Aloha Blanca (Centaurea Americana)

Known as the Basket Flower, this is a robust and tall plant that bears fluffy, ivory-white flowers that are six inches, or 15 cm, across.

The whiskery petals and the sheer dimensions of the flowers make this a fascinating bloom.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

6. Amaranth

Amaranth

Producing pretty purple flowers, the Amaranth can be grown for its flowers or as a grain and greens crop.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/amaranth-health-benefits

7. Rose Gomphrena Globosa

Rose Gomphrena Globosa

Gomphrena’s unusual spherical heads of papery petals make great cut flowers and can be successfully dried for later use.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

8. Echinops Ritro

Echinops Ritro

Globular heads of flowers with a metallic luster that remain decorative for a long time when dried.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

9. Transformer Nigella Orientalis

Transformer Nigella Orientalis

This interesting plant originates in Asia Minor. It has deep green, deeply cut foliage and small, yellowish-green flowers.

The seed pods are transformed (hence the name Transformer) into an umbrella shape when turned back to front and have an autumnal shade.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

10. Xeranthemum Annuum

Xeranthemum Annuum

An Everlasting Flower with white, woolly leaves and white, pink, or violet flowers.

The colors are gentle and pleasing to the eye as fresh or dried flowers.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

11. Limonium Sinuatum, Pastel Mixed

Limonium Sinuatum, Pastel Mixed

Limonium sinuatum produces a wonderful mix of pastel-hued, soft, papery blooms in violet, lavender, blush, rose, and mauve.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

12. Silver Mound (Artemisia Schmidtiana)

Silver Mound (Artemisia Schmidtiana)

This plant has fine silver foliage that tends to form mounds; hence the name Silver Mound. It belongs to the Asteraceae family.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/foliage/artemisia/silver-mound-care.htm

13. Astilbe

Astilbe

Astilbe produces tall, fluffy plumes that tower above frilly, fern-like foliage. Some varieties have arching stems, others erect.

The flowers are pastel and range from whites to dark purples.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/astilbe/growing-astilbe-plants.htm

14. Sensation Giants (Helipterum Roseum)

Sensation Giants (Helipterum Roseum)

Papery flowers in a mix of white with bright yellow centers and bright pink with bright yellow centers, these blooms can be dried to make superb dried flower arrangements.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

15. Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila Paniculate)

Baby’s Breath (Gypsophila Paniculate)

Baby’s Breath creates an airy, evocative spread of blooms.

The flowers are small and delicate. They are great for adding a gentle touch to other dried flowers in an arrangement. The flowers can be rose, pink and white, with single or double blooms.

https://www.thespruce.com/babys-breath-garden-favorite-4082480

16. Lambada (Monarda Hybrida)

Lambada (Monarda Hybrida)

This has got to be one of the most beautiful flowers, either fresh or dried. Long spires of white-spotted, deep pink flowers are arranged in whorls.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

17. Globe Thistle (Echinops Ritro)

Globe Thistle (Echinops Ritro)

The flowers of the Globe Thistle have deep purple and blue hues and are large and spiky. It is in the Aster family.

In Greek, the name translates as ‘Hedgehog’, for obvious reasons.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-grow-echinops/

18. Parker’s Variety (Achillea Filipendula)

Parker’s Variety (Achillea Filipendula)

If you want to add some bright yellow to your dried flower arrangement, this is a good choice.

Hairy, feathery, grey-green foliage and bright yellow flowers in large, saucer-like corymbs certainly make this a pretty addition.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

19. Flamingo Feathers (Celosia Spicata)

Flamingo Feathers (Celosia Spicata)

Known as Flamingo Cockscomb, Plumed Cockscomb, Flamingo Feather, or Dragon’s Breath.

Celosia Spicata has plumes of ivory-white flowers, the tips of the spikes being delicately shaded into rose pink.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

20. Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)

Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)

The Coneflower has spiny cones in the center, hence the name.

https://www.gardendesign.com/flowers/coneflower.html

21. Salmon Beauty (Delphinium Consolida)

Salmon Beauty (Delphinium Consolida)

Tall spires of papery blooms in a scintillatingly beautiful hue of pink are breathtaking.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

22. Hydrangea

Hydrangea

The color of Hydrangea blooms changes according to the acidity of the soil. In acidic soils they are blue and in alkaline soil pink. There are also white hydrangeas.

Limelight hydrangea is great as a dried flower.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/hydrangea/growing-hydrangeas-hydrangea-care-guide.htm

23. Bunny Tails (Lagurus Ovatus)

Bunny Tails (Lagurus Ovatus)

You can see why this plant is known as Bunny Tails. It’s a dwarf plant that produces little balls of fluff. What’s not to like!

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

24. Lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia)

Lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia)

Lavender is an herb plant with a fragrant aroma. Lavender has healing properties.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet/what-are-possible-benefits-lavender-must-know-facts-about-therapeutic-plant/

25. Lunaria

Lunaria

Lunaria is also known as Silver Dollar, Honesty, or the Money Plant.

The pods dry to flat silverish discs about the size of silver dollars. They are members of the family Brassicaceae. The flowers are delicate and four-petaled, ranging from pink to purple.

They grow in racemes or clusters on top of the long stems.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/lunaria-annua/

26. Pansy

Pansy

Pansy plants are members of the Viola family.

https://www.almanac.com/plant/pansies

27. Rose Buds

Rose Buds

To dry Roses use roses that have just begun to open.

Hang them upside down to dry. To dry a full bouquet, bury your bouquet in a box of silica gel for a week.

28. Craspedia Globose

Craspedia Globose

A quirky plant from Australia, Craspedia has narrow, silvery-grey leaves on wiry stalks and produces glomerules of bright yellow flowers, which make excellent dried flowers.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

29. White Swan (Salvia Viridis)

White Swan (Salvia Viridis)

There are different salvia plant types with many colors, including blues, purples, pinks, reds, whites, and yellows.

Salvia Viridis, known as the White Swan, is a particularly attractive variety, with flowers and bracts that are white in color and elegant in design.

https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/news/145/flowers-for-drying

30. Sea Holly (Eryngium)

Sea Holly (Eryngium)

Sea Holly has spiny-toothed leaves and clusters of tassel-like blossoms.

Their green or silvery-blue stems give way to green or blue cones surrounded by spiky silver, white, green, blue, or violet bracts.

The electric blue stems and flowers of Big Blue Sea Holly make it a fantastic dried flower. Cut the stems from your plants after the morning dew evaporates, just before the buds are completely open.

Tie the stems together. Hang them upside down and leave them to air dry in a dark, dry spot. If you want to really keep the color, flash-dry in a hot car.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/sea-holly/sea-holly-flowers.htm

31. Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium)

Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium)

Yarrow is an herbaceous flowering perennial.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/yarrow-health-benefits-4586386

And Now, To Finalize…

What’s not to love about flowers? They make the world a more beautiful place and often provide gorgeous scents.

Flowers are often gifted to celebrate events and occasions.

If you want to preserve memories of a particularly poignant moment involving a flower, or if you simply want to keep favored flowers for a long time, drying them can be the answer.

Dried flowers make décor statements and gifts.

Just select the strawflowers with the colors and form you want, plant and grow them, enjoy them and dry a few of the blooms to remember them by!