How To Preserve Your Lilac Flowers (And Why You Absolutely Should)

Lilacs are one of spring's most beautiful and short-lived blooms. While the shrubs stick around year after year, the flowers have a short bloom time of one to two weeks in the spring. However, preserving lilac blooms can help you capture the beauty and delicate floral scent for years after they've been clipped from a garden or bouquet. Preserving lilacs is pretty easy and definitely worth the effort. 

Lilacs are associated with concepts of renewal, love, and grief. They're also often a part of big life moments that encapsulate these themes like weddings, proms, and funerals. Dried lilacs are beautiful vessels for those precious memories. 

Use your dried lilacs as decorations, in floral simple syrups for cocktails, coffee, and tea, or even essential oils for diffusers and homemade body butters. Whether for decor, recipes, or craft projects, they can bring gentle energy and beauty to your space all year. The best time to prune your lilacs is when they first open. This helps make room for new blooms the following year. For preservation, this means you're also able to use them at their peak. The best way to preserve your lilacs depends on what you plan to use them for, but there are several options, including dehydration, air drying, and desiccation using silica gel.

To make fresh-cut lilacs last for a few days, you can cross-cut the flower stem at an angle so it absorbs more water. But for long-lasting decor, dry the flowers using silica gel. Place flowers in a plastic container with a small layer of silica gel. Gently cover the flowers with silica gel and leave them to dry for two to seven days. Gently brush away the gel and use the dried flowers in your craft projects. Unlike pressing flowers inside a book, this technique leave blooms intact, looking almost as good as fresh-cut. You can create gorgeous DIY centerpieces with preserved flower petals. Or use the silica-dried flowers in candlemaking. If you have a dehydrator with an herb setting (or a low temp setting, around 100 degrees), you can dehydrate the flowers on low heat to avoid burning and discoloration.

Lilacs also make tasty syrups and great-smelling essential oils (arguably a different way of preserving or capturing those short-lived blooms) that are wonderful in soaps, body butters, and diffusers. For a delicious simple syrup, pour hot honey or simmering simple syrup over fresh lilacs and let this mixture sit for about eight hours before straining. For a fragrant essential oil, place lilac blooms on a towel or paper towel to air dry overnight. The next day, place the blooms in a jar or bottle and cover with your carrier oil of choice, like jojoba oil. Cover and let the blooms infuse with the oil for about four to six weeks before straining.