Drying Branches for Fall Décor

October 5, 2026

Crisp. Crunch. Crinkle.

There’s a crispness to fall. Fresh morning autumn air feels clean and dry like line-dried laundry. Crispy apples give way to eager mouths, juice dripping from the munching.

There’s a crunch to fall. Boots crush acorns, unveiling golden flesh beneath the stout shell. Twigs snap in children’s hands and beneath running feet.

No longer limber and pliable from the summer’s steamy heat and rapid growth, all the world seems to slow and crinkle. Like a body no longer as flexible as the days of youth, all of nature seems to settle and stiffen.

But before the leaves became a crunch beneath my feet and a whisper of summer yesterdays, I gathered armfuls of branches from around my yard and my neighbor’s (I had permission…wink, wink). Before the leaves lost their green vibrancy and aged into drab browns, I clipped them to preserve their green hues. Yes, the branches mellowed into silvery sage hues, but that’s just what I wanted.

I like a gentle nod to the fall season in my home décor. Subtle and understated. So instead of traditional bright oranges, reds, and yellows, I focused more on soft grays and greens with tiny touches of brown, golds, and red.

Drying branches was such a simple and inexpensive way to bring a muted look into my home for this autumnal season. I simply clipped branches of several tree varieties, tied the branches together (I kept like branches together), and then hung them up to dry. Without a lot of space in the house, I hung up the branches in our barn and in an outdoor storage room. The heat probably wasn’t the best for them, but the branches turned out satisfactory.

The drying process was quick. I would say the branches were fully dry within a week, some of them even in a few days. In fact, I was a little concerned that I had clipped the branches too early and that they would brown. But so far the branches have kept their gray-green tones.

After the drying process, I set up a floral arranging station on our back patio table and had such a delightful time arranging the branches into a myriad of arrangements for my home. Now those arrangements are tucked around my home, bringing me such joy.

To add variety to the branches and add lighter hues, I added some faux stems from Hobby Lobby. I didn’t care for some very-fake looking leaves attached to the berry sprigs, so I simply clipped the white leaves off (for anyone wondering, per Google, white leaves don’t exist…just saying for the realists out there…like me). Voila! Now the arrangements looked viable as natural décor.

You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to welcome fall to your home. Clipping a few branches now before they turn colors will add a touch of nature during this beautiful season.

Happy fall decorating, friends!

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-Ashley

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