I'm ordinarily posting on the Reader's Paradise forum, Texas Gardening, or some of the forums at THS. This morning though I was searching for ways to press and dry flowers.

Naturally, when I did a search, this was one of the "hits". I read where someone here dried flowers in the microwave not using a "boughten" press, but just cardboard, paper and a weight. Just what I needed.

I did a test run on some little violas and pansies. Worked beautifully.

Why did I need this? I teach Latin at my local high school. It's almost Easter break time, and I wanted a fun project. Latin can get boring if we just translate and conjugate! We read up on Pliny the Elder--Roman naturalist. Then, we pressed and dried flowers today--using the microwave method. The students mounted them, and had to label them with their common names and their official (Latin) names. Such a wonderful day!

We did set the cardboard on fire once! The student forgot to put the power level down, but it was only a tiny flame. We smelled up the hallway, but had a ball, and the students LOVED the flower drying.

I sent them off campus picking wild flowers--paintbrush, phlox, primrose, bluebonnets, etc. They didn't get lost, but returned so they could do their flower. We'll display their results in our hallway, and I told them it was their six weeks test.

I had more curious visitors than ever to my room today, and lots of questions about how we were "cooking" the flowers.

Luckily I am right next door to a science teacher/botanist/naturalist, so if they picked a flower I didn't know, he helped us out.

Again, thanks to those on this forum who shared/share their flower pressing triumphs. I love these days.