Inside The New York Botanical Garden
pressed flowers
Posted in Gardening Tips on June 1 2010, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
 |
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. |
Last week I discussed the tradition of flower pressing, the creative uses of pressed flowers, and a few important tips for successfully pressing flowers and making your own designs.
Remember to collect flowers when they are at their peak Avoid any excess moisture on your flowers by collecting them in late morning after the dew has burned off. Below are some simple techniques for pressing flowers.
Waxed Paper
The simplest way to press flowers is the one we all experimented with in grade school—the waxed paper technique. Take two sheets of waxed paper and place your flowers between them.
Cover the waxed paper with a thin cloth and press with a warm iron on a low to medium setting. The cloth prevents the iron from acquiring a waxy residue. Waxed paper today is not as waxy as it used to be, however, so you might need to add some melted paraffin. You can use dried or fresh flowers. Flat flowers and foliage are easier to press.
Read More
Posted in Gardening Tips on May 24 2010, by Sonia Uyterhoeven
|
Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. |
The craft of flower pressing began hundreds of years ago in China and Japan, where flowers were pressed between sheets of rice paper weighed down with heavy stones. Pressed flowers were highly valued for their decorative qualities.
In the West, plants were collected and pressed for scientific as well as ornamental purposes. Botanists created herbaria, collections or libraries of pressed plants, for research and teaching. With proper care, these collections preserve plants for centuries. When in her teens, Emily Dickinson created her own herbarium, a digitized version of which can be seen in the Gallery exhibition of Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers.
Collecting and pressing flowers was a popular pastime in the United States during the 19th century, when there was an abundance of open land. Today urbanization and the damaging effects of herbicides and pesticides threaten our native flora. It is important when collecting plants to make sure that they grow in abundance. Never collect plants in parks or protected areas. The best place to collect is in your own garden.
Pressing flowers is a beautiful way to preserve memories of the growing season. The decorative uses for pressed flowers are limited only by your creativity. They can be framed or used to adorn note cards, writing paper, book covers, bookmarks, paperweights, candles, placemats, and more.
Read More
