Preserving special flowers from events like weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries holds sentimental value, allowing you to cherish memories for years to come. Whether it’s the bouquet from your wedding day, a birthday bouquet from a loved one, or anniversary flowers marking a milestone, preserving them can evoke nostalgia and serve as a tangible reminder of those special moments. Here’s why and how you can preserve your flowers.
The Emotional Significance of Pressed Flowers
Many don’t know what to do with a bouquet of flowers after they start to wilt; whether it be from a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or another big event, those flowers often get thrown out. But there is another option. Flowers do not need to be thrown out like last week’s garbage, instead, they can be pressed and preserved to be hung up on the walls of your home. Many, have started to opt for this very thing to hold onto their special moment awhile longer.
Flowers have so many meanings behind them. Sometimes it is quite literally what the flower represents like how white lilies signify pure love, daisies signify true love, and red tulips signify declared love. As you can see many flowers are a symbol of love in one way or another. Personally, I think flowers hold the most meaning at the moment they are given. For example, was it when he got down on one knee and proposed? Was it your sister’s wedding bouquet? Or did your best friend give you flowers when you thought no one remembered your birthday? There are so many examples of perfect moments marked by flowers. Why would you not want to remember those moments by their beauty in your home?
Tips for Selecting and Preserving Flowers
First things first, you will want to choose flowers that are important to you. Flowers that hold sentimental value and will bring a smile to your face every time you walk by them. If they don’t do this, you may want to wait until you have a bundle of flowers that do. Once you have those flowers you will want to keep them as close to peak freshness as possible before pressing them. A couple of tips I have learned from my time pressing flowers are to:
- Press them as soon as possible
- Keep flower stems in a fresh vase of water
- Cut the flower stems at an angle to allow the flowers to soak up more water
- Remove any excess leaves below the water line
- Keep the flowers in a cool dark place
These tips can help keep your blooms alive and healthy while they await the press, However, these tips cannot keep them from dying over time, they just slow down the process for a couple extra days.
Creative Display Ideas
there are many ways to display your flowers throughout your home. It can range with different types of preserved flowers as well. They can be dried, pressed, or recreated through other art forms. For this blog we will focus on dried and pressed flower displays.
Dried Flower Display
Displaying dried flowers keeps depth and the more intricate details that otherwise wouldn’t be preserved if pressed. For displaying dried flowers I personally prefer to use a shadowbox with another sentimental picture from where the flowers are from. It is easier to work with a small amount of flowers rather than a whole bunch of them, but pairing them with a photo makes it so there isn’t leftover empty space. I recently was able to use this method with my own wedding flowers!
My husband and I left his wedding boutonniere in our car’s sun visor and then forgot about it shortly after. It wasn’t until a month ago that I rediscovered them and decided it was time for them to be preserved. Despite our harsh winters in Idaho the flowers dried to perfection and kept their color over time. To my luck, I also found a shadowbox frame at a thrift store the day before I found the boutonniere.
To display the dried flowers, I chose to take them apart from their original boutonniere form and place a few in each corner of the display. For the background of the frame, I used a black-and-white photo from our wedding day to highlight the colors of the flowers even more. The width of the frame provided enough space and stability for the flowers to hold their place in the frame without any glue needed. I loved how they turned out in the end, and I can’t think of a better way for them to be displayed in my home!
Pressed Flower Display
There’s something truly magical about the art of pressing flowers. It’s like capturing a piece of nature’s poetry and preserving it in time. Picture this: delicate petals carefully arranged in a decorative frame, adding a hint of the outdoors to your living room wall. Or imagine receiving a handmade card embellished with pressed blooms, each petal placed perfectly just for you!
For someone like me who adores crafts, pressed flowers are a treasure trove of possibilities. They can find their way into resin jewelry, transforming into wearable pieces of art. They may even become your next homemade bookmark, making every reading session a trip down memory lane.
But beyond the creative ventures, pressing flowers is a deeply personal experience. Each pressed flower becomes a tiny time capsule, preserving moments that would otherwise slip away.
In a world that often feels rushed and disconnected from nature, pressing flowers is my way of slowing down and savoring the beauty around me. It’s a reminder to appreciate the little things and to find joy in the simplest of pleasures. So the next time you come across a blooming treasure, why not press it between the pages of a book and let it become a part of your story?
Sharing Your Floral Keepsakes
In today’s digital age, the art of sharing these floral keepsakes has evolved. While physical scrapbooks and frames are timeless treasures, the digital realm offers innovative ways to showcase and share our pressed flower memories with a wider audience. Social media platforms and digital galleries have become virtual gardens where we can display our floral collections and connect with others who appreciate their beauty.
Imagine curating a digital album featuring pressed flowers from different seasons or locations, each with its own story to tell. From a stroll through a blooming field to a memorable bouquet received on a special occasion, each pressed flower holds a memory waiting to be shared. Through platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, or dedicated blogs, enthusiasts can inspire and be inspired by others who share their passion for floral preservation.
Virtual workshops and tutorials make it easier than ever to learn the art of pressing flowers, fostering a community of creators ready to explore this timeless craft. By sharing techniques, tips, and personal experiences online, individuals can learn from each other and cultivate their own unique style.
In a world where digital connections play an increasingly significant role in our lives, sharing pressed flower memories online offers a beautiful way to spread joy, inspiration, and appreciation for nature’s fleeting beauty. Whether through a carefully curated Instagram feed or a collaborative Pinterest board, let’s embrace the digital age as a canvas for preserving and sharing the timeless charm of pressed flowers.