I had a go at drying some cornflower stems in my workshop this summer

drying cornflowers — Fresh cornflowers hung up to dry

They were all a lovely intense uniform royal blue when I hung them up to dry, but the results were very mixed! Some of the dried cornflowers colour stayed true, some faded to a pretty pale blue, and some cornflower petals bleached right out. I would guess it might be due to the effect of light as they weren’t in 100% darkness.
If anyone knows the trick to drying cornflowers, please let me know – I tried googling the answer but no luck!

faded cornflower petals — These dried cornflower petals have faded almost to white but kept a blue centre

Shopping link – dried cornflower petals

Don’t worry – these are not the ones we sell in our shop! We buy in expertly grown and dried pure royal blue cornflower petals. They are relatively expensive, and now I understand why!
Buy dried cornflower petals