Winter Enjoyment From Pressed Flowers

When the snow has taken over our gardens and our tending is limited to the care of houseplants and "carry-overs", there is much pleasure to be derived from the hobby of using pressed flowers to make pictures and plaques and to decorate notepaper, cards and candles. But the preparation to build up a good stock of material starts as soon as we welcome our first spring flowers and only ends when we have gathered the last of the beautiful Fall leaves.

I would like to pass on some do's and don'ts that I have learned over several years with this pastime. A flower press is a "must" if you plan to collect a lot of material. With this I find that about 8 layers of newspaper is adequate, but increase for thicker specimens. However, the beginner can start with an old Telephone Directory, the paper is just as absorbent. Then top with a board and heavy weight. Press briefly after you have spread each layer of material, otherwise you may have difficulty in keeping the next layer flat. Use only perfect specimens and spread them out so they don't touch each other or overlap. With pansies, take the heads off and press separately, face down. This will avoid the ridge from the stem marking the flower face.

The material should be pressed for at least a month, some items may need longer, you can carefully check from time to time and renew paper where needed. When they come away crisply from the paper they are ready for filing into folders or boxes between paper towels. The general rule is to pick on a dry day, at least a day after rain from late morning on to ensure that any dew has dried off. Use freshly opened flowers for the best colour and do collect the leaves to go with the appropriate flowers.

Obviously for decorating notepaper only lightweight small flowers and leaves are suitable but for making pictures to be displayed behind glass longer sprays and heavier flowers can be successfully used. The wild Lythrum and Viper's Bugloss, for instance, keep their colours well and are most attractive in larger pictures. There is a great deal of trial and error in finding out which flowers keep their true colours and sometimes the flowers press beautifully but their leaves go a poor colour or are too brittle to handle when dry.

Even within a group such as pansies, the bright blues and strong yellows press well but bronzes become dirty looking. I press both garden and wild flowers and leaves. Here is a short list of favourites which I find both reliable and effective. From the garden, scyllas (the leaves are disappointing ) pansies, johnnyjump-ups, forget-me-nots,aubretia, dwarf phlox and purple sweet alyssum. From the wild, the easy ones are bird's foot trefoil, butter-and-eggs, buttercups (fragile but the yellow stays bright) hop clovers, St. John's Wort and purple Vetch (picked young). Of course there are many more for the trying.

It is a matter of taste how you arrange them after they are dried. You may like to make miniature arrangements with bits and pieces. My preference is, for decorating notepaper, to use a single variety with its own foliage as I like that "natural" look. Make sure there is good balance and use all the rules applying to fresh flower arrangements.

When designing a picture behind glass take into account that leaves such as ferns will fade in time and take their eventual colour into consideration. I secure the pieces to the backing with tiny spots of white glue using a toothpick by just touching strategic points and tips of leaves, enough to hold them in place. After making sure there are no loose bits, I cover the notepaper with lightweight clear peel-off plastic cut a little bigger than the size, then I trim the surplus plastic round the edges.

I find this a most appealing and enjoyable hobby. As I handle the various flowers I can recall nostalgically when and where I picked each one in the warmer days of Spring, Summer or Fall.

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