The Best Flowers to Press in Winter

Winter is the sparsest season for flower pressing, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to press - you just might need to search a little more for the secrets that nature holds. There are some absolutely beautiful flowers that bloom during Winter, and some incredible leaves too.

A lot of festive foliage presses really nicely - ivy and mistletoe are wonderful to press, and holly also works well. Once pressed, they are perfect for creating unique Christmas cards with, or for decorating gift tags for an extra special touch.

Flowers can be difficult to find at the start of Winter, but as the season of sparkle and rolling mist progresses, we are treated to the arrival of hellebores and snowdrops - both of which press very well. For me, they are some of the most awe-inspring flowers of the whole year, given how they bloom in cold weather conditions when most other plants lie dormant under the soil. I’m very lucky to have an abundance of hellebores in the Meadow and Thyme garden and a swathe of hundreds of snowdrops growing underneath the oak tree, however if you only have a few precious blooms I’d encourage you to leave the majority of them for wildlife rather than picking them - hellebores and snowdrops are both vital sources of early pollen for Queen bees as they wake from their Winter slumber.

Winter flowers tend to be quite moisture-heavy, so you’ll need a really good quality flower press to get the best results. They can turn mouldy when pressed, so to help prevent this I’d recommend using multiple layers of blotting paper in your flower press to help to absorb the moisture and draw it away from the flowers quickly.

If you’d like to learn more about traditional flower pressing, The Pressed Flower Handbook will guide you through the best flowers to press in each season, and also provide four lovely seasonal projects for creating with your pressings (the project for Winter is a gorgeous festive bauble - magical!).