How to Care for Strawflowers

Prepare seedlings indoors by planting them in pots and setting them on your windowsill where the strawflower can get lots of direct sunlight. You should begin planting inside during March. To pot the strawflower seeds, fill a pot with soil. Dig out a small hole about 1 to 1-1/2 inches deep. Place the strawflower seeds in the hole and gently cover with soil.

Transplant your strawflower seedlings outdoors after the last frost in your area. Prepare a garden bed that has access to direct sunlight and leave about 1 foot between each seedling. Strawflowers are versatile flowers and will grow in any soil type that is well-drained and is not over-watered. Keep the soil moist and do not let it dry out, but not so wet that there is standing water.

Take off the strawflower's leaves when you are ready to harvest them for drying purposes. Usually they begin blooming in the middle of the summer and they will continue to bloom until around the first frost of the season. Wait to pick them until the flower's stem is between 6 and 12 inches tall but before the yellow center of the flower shows, according to the University of Illinois.

Bind the stems with a rubber band or piece of string and hang your bouquet upside down in a shaded place that is dry rather than moist. Wait about three weeks for the flowers to dry out.