Pressed Flowers

Over the weekend, I found a little time to do something with a bunch of flowers I've had pressed in my field notebooks. I've realized some interesting qualities about certain flowers after they're pressed. Lantanas tend to not press well - the vibrant color fades quickly, and not to a paler version of the original brilliance but to ugly browns :-( Pink evening primrose petals are even more delicate and thin after weeks of pressing, but the color stays good (as long as you pick the "youngest" flowers to press - the younger the pinker, the older the whiter). I tore several while trying to lay them down on a thin layer of glue but thankfully I collected MANY. Asteraceae holds up well after pressing and it's easy to glue down because the petals remain robust. I was surprised how well Indian paintbrush held up, given that it squelched and screeched when I pressed it (but it pressed beautifully!).




The top one includes 2 plants collected in the Sierras, some kind of Indian paintbrush and a Gray's Lupine. The rest are Texas wildflowers (collected last and this spring). The bottom one are all Texas wildflowers, collected this spring.