So many flowers are starting to emerge here in the UK and I’ve been sending out so many flower presses which makes me very happy. Pressing flowers and leaves brings so much joy and I wanted to share some of my favourite things to press at this time of year to help give you ideas.
I also wanted to let you know what flowers don’t press well to avoid picking things you can’t use. I’ve shared the link to my IGTV video on how to use my wooden flower presses here again too, in case you’ve bought or been given one and would like a bit of help with using it.
Celandine
Celandine are one of my very favourite flowers to press and they are all over the forest floors and meadows at the moment. I love their slightly pointy petals and their bright sunshine yellow.
I press some side on with the stalk and for some, the larger flowers normally, I remove the stalk and place the flower face down to make it as flat as possible
Forget Me Nots
I was surprised by how well these tiny delicate flowers press. You can press just the individual tiny flowers or the whole cluster of flowers with the stalk which is how I prefer to press them. I take the leaves off the stalk though as they are a bit bulkier.
Primroses
My garden is full of wild pale yellow primroses and all the meadows nearby are too. These are another favourite to press as they are such a sign of spring. As with celandines, I press some sideways on with stalks, and then remove the flower heads from the stalk and press them face down to get some larger flowers only.
Bluebells
Bluebells carpet the woodland floor and gardens from early April but they are very bulky to press so I don’t normally press many. If you want to try, it’s best to lay them flat on their side and you will need to use a few extra layers of paper to absorb the extra moisture. It’s illegal to pick bluebells in the wild, so only press them if you have them in your garden.
Cow Parsley
This is one of my all time favourite spring wildflowers as you will see in my online shop. I love the shape of cow parsley flowers and it is one of my favourite times of year when the hedgerows become full of their frothiness in May. I like to pick off the individual flower sprigs and press whole umbels too (the umbel is the cluster of flowers on one main stalk). Cow parsley presses so differently every time which is part of its magic.
Cuckoo Flowers
These pinky purple flowers are a lesser known wildflower, but they are so pretty and delicate when you press them. They start to appear in my local park just as the daffodils are fading. I press them as whole stems with several flowers per stem.
Things that are hard to press and better to keep as fresh flowers
Daffodils – mini ones can press okay sideways on, but daffodils are better enjoyed in vases than pressed as they are too bulky and the petals on their own don’t look great.
Hyacinth too are way too bulky to press and much better enjoyed fresh for their smell and shape.
Things to remember
- Make sure your flowers are completely dry before you press them otherwise they will go mouldy in the press.
- Only pick flowers when you know you can press them immediately as they need to be fresh when you press them. If you’re going on a long walk, take a book or flower press with you or only collect things towards the end so they will keep. Flowers and leaves will curl up and wither very quickly after picking.
- Where possible, press things you grow yourself and only take a few flowers from the wild. Only ever pick from public land, not private, and don’t pick from the same place every time – leave plenty for pollinators, insects and other animals to enjoy.
- Make sure you know what you are picking before you pick it and be careful not to trample things as you pick.
More on pressing flowers
I filmed a short IGTV video which explains how to use a wooden flower press and shows a few of these flowers being pressed. If you want to try some pressed flower crafts with the things you press, I have a blog on that. And if you don’t have a flower press, and would like one, you can get one of my wooden flower presses here.
I’d love to know what you press this month and what you use it for – tag me in your photos on Instagram if you take any!