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Create your own beautiful fall corn stalk decor with these perfectly dried cornstalks. Here’s how to make this classic autumn decoration yourself by drying corn from your garden.
I love using corn stalks to decorate my front porch in the fall. In fact, I would say they’ve become a seasonal necessity because of the instant cozy atmosphere they bring to our home. A corn stalk bundle is such a great backdrop for all the other fun pumpkins and mums that we like to put out as soon as the cooler weather hits (and sometimes a little before that if we’re really excited that year).
In the past, we’ve either picked up our corn stalks from the local farmer’s market or the garden centre, already dried and tied up with a bow for us. One year, we decided to try gathering the leftover corn stalks from our garden to use instead, and the rest is cozy autumnal history.
The thing is, in late September or early October, when we usually do most of our fall decorating, the corn in the garden is still green. I see that corn dry out, along with the corn in the fields, around the end of November, which is just a bit too late for most of our fall decor needs. I always thought that the corn stalks that you get at the farmer’s market were maybe just some kind of special breed that dried up early so they could harvest it and sell it in the fall, but it turns out that the markets just harvest these crops early from the corn field and dry it specifically for that purpose, just the same way that we do now.
More fall decoration ideas from the garden: How to Get Perfectly Dried Hydrangeas Every Time
Perfectly Dried Corn Stalks From the Garden
Before you can begin harvesting and drying your corn, you’ll first need to grow some in your garden. Planting and growing corn is an easy summer project for even the newest gardener and soon you’ll have a little jungle of tall corn stalks.
The fun thing about growing your sweet-corn is that it can actually be harvested twice: Once in late summer when you harvest the edible ears of corn, then again later in the growing season when you use the stalks for ornamental purposes. Corn really is such a useful plant to grow.
The optimum time to harvest for corn stalk decor is somewhere between mid-September and early October. The plants will still appear quite green, but they will have naturally begun to dry a bit, making the whole process quicker and easier.
To begin your corn stalk harvest, cut the stalks close to the ground using sharp garden pruners or loppers if you find you corn stalks are very strong and sturdy. If your cutting tools could use a bit of a sharpening, read this: How to Sharpen Hedge Trimmers and Garden Shears.
Next, hang them upside down, either by tying them up or by hooking them onto something. We often just dry ours by hooking them onto the chicken wire supports that our grape vines grow on. One year, we hung them from the tower of our no-longer-functional TV antenna on the side of the house using clamps, which worked quite well.
Wherever you put them, make sure they’re upside down so that the leaves stay upright. You always want a fairly sunny spot with good air circulation so the corn dries nicely and you don’t have any mildew issues.
Leave your corn stalks to dry for about a week until they become the perfect harvest-y gold color for all your fall decor needs.
More decorating inspiration: The Best Quick and Easy Fall Porch Decor Ideas
Displaying Autumn Corn Stalk Decor
Displaying corn stalks is such a great way to instantly bring your home into the fall season. Here where we live, we’re surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans, so it feels very natural, but I think corn stalks look perfect anywhere during the fall months, whether you live in a rural countryside setting, the suburbs, or right in a city.
To display your corn on your porch or at your entryway, take three to six stalks and bundle them together, then tie them up securely with twine. Top the twine with a decorative ribbon to match the rest of your decor scheme if you like, or leave the corn bundle looking simple and natural.
I love to add corn bundles to the posts on our porch, tied to the front of our stair railing, or simply leaning against the house next to the door.
If I want to lean a corn stalk bundle in a place where I don’t have something to tie it to, I find that it falls over pretty quickly in the wind if I don’t secure it well. What I do in this situation is take a large Command Hook, place it directly on the house upside down, tie a length of twine around the corn, and loop it onto the Command Hook to keep the corn from being blown over. It works like a charm!
Natural decoration ideas: DIY Classic Wheat Sheaf Decor for Fall
Pictured above: All-Weather Adirondack Chairs | All-Weather Coffee Table | Similar Blue and White Ceramic Planter | Entryway Handleset
Pictured Above: All-Weather Planter | Satin Ribbon (color is “dark brown”) | Brass Watering Can | Similar Rustic Wood Ladder | Wreath Form
Definitely give this one a try for your fall decor if you’ve had corn growing in your garden this summer. Happy decorating!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.