My questions are:
- Is there a special trick to pressing large flowers, like hibiscus?
- Are some flowers just not suitable for pressing, like coneflowers with the large center cone?
- For spire-type flowers with petals on all 4 sides, like Cats Whiskers for example, do you remove some of the back-side petals before pressing?
- If I want to do some very thin slices of citrus fruit, would it be better to pick it before it's ripe so it's dryer or do fruits not work at all?

Thanks!
Kate

White Coneflower and a white Cat's Whiskers

I've no experience with fruit except for Pomegranate which will dry on its own unsliced. Well, I've had limes dry whole but it was unintended...and they turned a dark greenish-black...not pretty!

I only grow the Hibiscus coccineus which is easily pressed but it is one of those flatfaced singleply fkowers...I think the others would do better dried in silica gel.

Check out a couple of library books...just to get a good basic understanding of the different methods of preserving flowers. Then experiment...you have access to so many lovely plants that may not be found in books(like your Cats Whiskers).

Good luck. josh

If you want to simulate a pressed coneflower, how about pressing just the petals and using a dried orange slice as the center?