Peonies are some of our favorite flowers to dry, although they can take a little more time and work than other flowers.

Any colors will work. Whites tend to get a little beigeish and some reds may go purplish but in general colors hold up well.

We air-dry ours, either by hanging upside down or by putting the stems through hardware cloth that's attached to table-height frames. With doubles and bombs, either method works. With singles, see how the petals fall when you hang them upside down and change to upright if you want a different effect. When we do them on the screens, we sometimes support the petals lightly (with small wads of tissue paper) of to get a more rounded, rather than flat, effect.

One thing to watch for is Indian meal moths. We use pantry pest traps in our barn when the peonies are drying there, and cover the flower heads with tissue papeer when we can. After they're dried, a few days in the freezer can help kill any larvae that have hatched. We store the flowers in plastic boxes with tight-fitting lids and dessicant packs.