How to Dye and Color Flowers

There are two primary methods. The first is to dye the flowers; the second is to paint them with floral spray paint. Dyeing flowers takes longer, but the spray paint can leave a slight odor on the blooms for up to 24 hours.

The flower coloring technique comes in handy when you want a floral arrangement that matches your indoor décor; it is also handy when you want holiday colored decorations, such as green for St. Patrick ‘s Day, oranges and golds for Thanksgiving or red and green for Christmas. And who knows – a persistent gardener may actually create a truly black rose.

Dyeing Flowers

This is something that many people learn as children. Stick a white flower into a bottle or vase filled with a mix of water and either food coloring or ink. The dyed water wicks up through the plant and soon the blooms begin to take on the color of the dye. Eventually, so do the stems and leaves, so monitoring the progress of the color is important, depending on the effect you desire.

This process works best with white flowers, but some interesting effects can be achieved on paler blossoms, such as light yellows and pinks, so long as you choose a dye that coordinates with that color.

Especially good flowers for this process are Queen Anne’s Lace, which is a lovely filler in a floral arrangement (Hint: Spray the flowers with hair spray before placing them in the final arrangement or they will shed everywhere). Also good are daisies, white carnations, and alliums. Most of these can be obtained at a grocery store if there is nothing suitable in the garden.

Some people think that adding sugar to the water prolongs the life of the flowers. If you have time to experiment, try using sugar for one set of dyed flowers, leaving the other without.

Basic Steps

• Cut the stems of the flowers to be dyed under running water, cutting at a slant to leave the maximum exposed surface of the stem bottom to take up the water and dye. Avoid crushing or bruising the stem as this will inhibit the flow of color. Shorter stems take color more quickly.
• Color some water with liquid food coloring, or ink. About 20-30 drops in a glass of water is about right. Don’t forget, you can mix and match the food coloring to create your own colors. Blue and red if you want purple, etc.
• Sit back and watch as the colored water slowly travels up the stem until it reaches and begins to color the flower This can take up to two days, so you may want to experiment with this technique before you decide to color flowers for a special occasion.
• Some dyes work faster than others; some flowers take color more quickly.

Designer Variations

Two colors can be introduced to a single flower by the simple process of first dying it a pale color, and then putting it into a glass of a different, compatible color until you see that the tips of the flower are one color and the center or base is another,

A slightly wilder version of this is to actually split the flower stem about two-thirds of the way. Put two glasses of different colored dye side by side, placing one half of the stem in one color and the other in the second glass of differently colored water. This can produce some very intriguing effects.

Spray Painting Flowers

This is a trick professional florists have been using for a long time, but now anyone can find floral spray paint at their local crafts store.

All you need to do is locate the color of floral spray that you want, shake the can thoroughly and spray the flowers to be dyed lightly. Two or three or even five light coats are much better than a single heavy coat as you will not only avoid any drips but will achieve a more natural effect.

By the way, it’s possible to get a two tone or even three tone effect if your aim with the spray paint can is good. Just layer the colors from lightest to darkest.

The Elusive Black Rose

• To create a black rose (or any other flower, for that matter) use a white rose and black food coloring if you can find it. Otherwise black ink will do. Add enough that the water is nearly opaque.
• A red rose will also work, since it is already dark and the black color that wicks through the stem will only enhance and deepen the color. But to be honest, the end result looks more like a black cherry than a true black flower.
• Add a packet of plant food or floral preservative to the water.
• Cut the rose stem under running water, making sure it is cut on a slant so that the least possible amount of the stem rests on the bottom of the glass.
• Spray paint (the floral kind that doesn’t smother the flower petals) is the best solution here. It is quick and easy with guaranteed results.

Try mixing black roses with orange ones for a Halloween centerpiece – maybe using a hollowed out pumpkin as a vase?