The Best Flowers for Pressing

Not every flower is going to press the way you hope it will.

And if you’ve ever looked at a beautiful bouquet and thought, “I really want to keep these forever,” the last thing you want is to choose the wrong flowers and lose them in the process.

But here’s the good news: that doesn’t mean your flowers can’t be preserved.

Some flowers are naturally easier to press than others, but there are still so many beautiful options, and even the trickier ones can sometimes be preserved with a little extra care.

Why We Press Flowers

Because when you want to press a flower, it’s rarely just about the flower itself.

It’s usually because it reminds you of something you don’t want to forget.

Maybe it’s your wedding bouquet that you can’t bear to throw away.

Maybe it’s flowers from someone special.

Maybe it’s blooms you grew yourself in the garden.

Or perhaps it’s a bouquet that takes you straight back to a particular day, person or moment.

That’s why I love pressing flowers so much.

It’s not really about keeping the flowers alive forever. It’s about keeping a little piece of what they meant to you.

Turning flowers into memories.

The Best Flowers for Pressing

Some flowers naturally lend themselves beautifully to pressing. Here are a few of my favourites:

🌸 Pansies & violas
Their flat shape and delicate petals make them lovely for pressing, with so many beautiful colours to work with.

🌼 Daisies
Simple, recognisable and full of charm. Their shape can look beautiful once pressed.

🌿 Ferns
Perfect for adding texture, movement and a little bit of greenery to a pressed flower piece.

🌸 Cosmos
Their delicate petals create such a soft, romantic feel when pressed.

🌼 Forget-me-nots
Tiny but meaningful, they’re perfect for adding little pops of colour throughout a design.

🌸 Delphiniums
Beautiful for adding height and colour, although their structure can mean they need a little extra care.

🌿 Lavender
Lovely for adding texture and movement, and always brings a little reminder of summer with it.

🌸 Queen Anne’s Lace
Perfect for creating that light, airy, meadow-like feeling.

Of course, every flower is different. How well it presses can depend on its moisture content, thickness, variety and even when it was picked.

What About Roses?

Roses can absolutely be pressed, but their thicker petals and layered centres can make them a little more challenging.

Sometimes individual petals press beautifully, while a whole rose may need a different approach.

But a flower being a little tricky doesn’t mean it has to be thrown away.

And when it’s a flower that holds meaning, I think it’s always worth exploring what might be possible.

Flowers That Need a Little Extra Care

Some flowers naturally contain more moisture or have particularly thick centres, such as very full roses, dahlias, peonies and succulents.

These aren’t necessarily impossible to preserve. They just need a little more care and sometimes a different approach.

So if you have a flower that means something to you, don’t decide it can’t be saved simply because it isn’t on the easy list.

Timing Matters

If you know you want to press your flowers, it’s best not to leave them sitting in water for days before deciding what to do with them.

Fresh flowers generally give you a better starting point than flowers that are already wilting or beginning to deteriorate.

Handle them gently, remove any excess moisture and try not to leave it too long before deciding how you’d like to preserve them.

And if you’re not sure what to do, that’s okay too. You don’t have to know the perfect way to preserve them yourself.

You Don’t Need to Be a Flower Expert

You don’t need to know the name of every flower in your bouquet.

You don’t need to know which ones will press perfectly.

And you certainly don’t need to have everything figured out before asking for help.

Sometimes it’s as simple as looking at your flowers and thinking:

“These are the ones I want to remember.”

From there, I can help you work out what might be possible and which flowers could work beautifully within a pressed design.

The Beauty of Imperfection

Pressed flowers don’t always come out looking exactly as they did when they were fresh.

Some colours soften.

Some petals change shape.

Some flowers become more delicate.

And I think that’s part of what makes them so beautiful.

They’re not meant to recreate the bouquet exactly as it was.

They’re a little piece of that moment, paused in time.

A reminder of how it looked, how it felt and why it mattered.

What Should You Do With Your Flowers?

If you have flowers sitting at home that you can’t quite bring yourself to throw away, you don’t need to make a decision straight away.

Take a moment.

Think about which blooms mean the most to you.

And if you’re wondering whether they can be pressed, you’re always welcome to get in touch with me.

We can chat about what you have, what you’d like to keep and how I might be able to turn those flowers into a keepsake to treasure forever.

Have flowers you’d love to keep? Get in touch and tell me a little bit about them. 🌿