Preserving Flowers
The art of flower preserving goes back to the 16th century. In Japan, pressing was an art form known as oshibana. The 1800’s saw flower pressing begin to be widely discussed in newspapers and other texts all over the world. Middle and upper class Victorian ladies began pressing as a way to preserve special memories and record new or unseen plants.
Earlier this summer, I pressed some pansies before they died off. I was really pleased with how they turned out! These would be stunning as edible flower decor on a lemon flavored cake or cupcakes, or even on a key lime pie!
Pansies before pressing.
Pansies after pressing.
Today, I selected some blooms from my garden for pressing and made a sort of herbarium chart on graph paper. Interestingly, most of these are edible with the exception of angelonia, vinca, petunias, black eyed susan and dianthus.
Zinnias
Marigolds
Lambs ear
Angelonia
Vinca
Torenia
Snapdragon
Rosemary
Celoisia
Gardenia
Sunflower
Dahlia
Petunia
Basil
Black Eyed Susan Vine
Dwarf Morning Glory
Dianthus
Other common edible flowers are: citrus blossom, clover, daisies, dandelions, hibiscus, honeysuckle, lavender, lilac, mums, nasturtium, pansies, roses, sunflowers, and violets.
If nothing else, this will serve as a reminder for me next year as to what I had planted this year!
How to Press Preserve flowers:
Supplies needed:
Parchment paper, wax paper or newspaper
A large heavy book (you can see I have this HUGE vintage dictionary that is perfect for pressing.)
Additional books or heavy object such as a weight
1) Arrange your flowers spread out on the parchment, wax or newspaper. Ideally, petals should not touch, so give each flower plenty of room.
Pressing flowers on wax paper.
2) Fold paper over and insert carefully into large book
Pressing flowers in a heavy book.
3) Close your book and place the weight on top
4) Leave the pressing book undisturbed for 7 to 14 days
5) Store dried pressed flowers in parchment, wax or newspaper in a dry area. You can store them in the same book that you used for pressing, or transfer them (still folded in paper) to a zip lock bag, notebook/binder with page inserts, etc.
There are so many ways to use preserved flowers. I’ve listed a few for you:
Use as “confetti” in birthday cards.
If edible, use flowers on cupcakes, to decorate a cake or on top of sugar cookies.
Carefully glue flowers to a card that has been cut to size (5” X 10” or 4
X 6”) and frame them for unique artwork.Make herbarium cards for flowers and herbs that you grow in your garden. This would be a lovely keepsake for future generations! (Remember how Kya illustrated and documented birds in Where the Crawdads Sing?!)
Rather than cards, preserve your flowers and herbs in an herbarium journal – I have linked to one below.
Use preserved flowers to create handmade greeting cards.
Create bookmarks by hand lettering a bible verse or line of poetry and adding pressed flowers before laminating.