You don't need a field full of flowers to have enough for drying. Just three or four plants of each type will yield enough stems for several dried arrangements.

Harvest more flowers than you need. Many preserved flowers are fragile, and you will undoubtably lose a few in the drying process.

Air-drying flowers takes 10 to 20 days, depending on the plant. When dried, the stems should snap easily. Good plants for air-drying include yarrow (Achillea), anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), larkspur (Consolida ambigua), globe amaranth (Gomphrena), pink paper daisy (Helipterum roseum), statice (Limonium), and starflower (Scabiosa stellata).

Photography by former managing editor Sabin Gratz/National Gardening Association