How to Press Flowers: 10 Guides, Drying Times Compared

To press flowers, lay them flat between sheets of absorbent paper inside a heavy book, stack more books on top and leave them for two weeks or more. All 10 guides we read teach that book method, and seven of them put full drying at two weeks or longer.

Faster routes exist. Six guides give steps for a microwave and four for an iron.

We read all 10 on October 22, 2026 to see where they agree and where they split. We did not press any flowers for this page, so every time below is what the guides say, not something we measured.

AI tools helped write this page, and no flower-pressing expert has reviewed it.

How do you press flowers in a book?

To press flowers in a book, lay dry flowers face down between two sheets of absorbent paper, close the book and stack heavy books on top. Then leave it for about two weeks and check once for damp paper. All 10 guides we read teach this method. The steps below are the ones they share, and we say where they disagree.

1. Pick after the dew has dried. University of Maryland Extension (UMD Extension below), Chalking Up Success and First Day of Home all say morning, once the dew is gone.
2. Make sure the petals are dry. Red Ted Art says a wet flower risks mouldy spots and a smelly page. Paper Thin Moon lays hers out on kitchen towel to dry. No guide says to dry flowers for days first.
3. Lay them face down on paper, with gaps. Plain white paper is the safe pick (see the paper section). UMD Extension leaves about 1/8 inch between flowers. First Day of Home says 3/4 inch. Touching petals stick together.
4. Cover with a second sheet, close the book and add weight. Viola Floral puts a figure on it: a book of at least a few pounds, ideally 2 to 3 stacked. Rizzo stacks books 3 or 4 high.
5. Leave it alone, then check once. UMD Extension says wait a week before the first look. Rizzo says a couple of days to a week. Paper Thin Moon says at least two weeks, because opening early can tear the flowers.
6. Lift them out with tweezers. First Day of Home recommends nylon tweezers, since dry petals break.

How long does it take to press flowers?

In a book, plan on two to four weeks: seven of the 10 guides put full drying at two weeks or longer, and thick flowers can need up to four. A microwave or an iron takes minutes, and two guides add a few days of pressing or air drying after that.

Rizzo says "a couple of weeks" and Paper Thin Moon "at least two weeks", so both sit in the no-upper-limit row. The Natural History Museum says "a couple of days to a few weeks".

Thick flowers add time. Viola Floral says up to 3 to 4 weeks, and Homestead and Chill says up to 4.

The guides also disagree about the first check. Viola and Leigh Florist are done at 1 to 2 weeks, while Paper Thin Moon says do not open before week two.

Open too early and the petals can tear. Wait on a damp page and you risk mould. Only Viola Floral gives signs to look for: a papery feel, crispness and no moisture on the paper.

Which method should you use: book, flower press, microwave or iron?

If you're not in a hurry, or the flowers are thick, use the book. It's the one method all 10 guides teach, and the slowest way is also the hardest to ruin. Save the microwave for small flat flowers like pansies and violas.

That pick is ours. The table shows what the guides themselves say. "With steps" means the page walks through the method. Rizzo names the wooden press and the microwave without steps, so she is left out of those counts.

• Book: Homestead and Chill says book-pressed flowers are at a higher risk of browning or molding.
• Wooden press: Homestead says 1 to 3 weeks, Leigh Florist says check at 1 to 2 and First Day of Home says 2 to 4. Chalking Up Success gives no time.
• Microwave: Red Ted Art says the book gets very warm. Chalking Up Success and First Day of Home say to check the book for metal.
• Iron: UMD Extension says about 3 minutes in all and warns, "Be careful not to burn the plant material or yourself!" First Day of Home says 15 to 30 seconds at a time. Homestead says flowers press instantly, but a day or two of air drying may follow.

The settings are where the guides split. Microwave bursts run from 10 seconds (Leigh Florist) to 60 seconds at half power (UMD Extension). Only UMD mentions power, and no page gives a wattage.

Iron heat runs from low (First Day of Home) through medium-low (Homestead and Chill) and medium (Chalking Up Success) to medium-high (UMD Extension). All four say to turn the steam off.

When guides disagree this much, we'd start with the shortest burst and the lowest heat. You can always give a flower ten more seconds, but you can't unscorch it.

How do you press flowers in the microwave or with an iron?

For the microwave, the steps the guides share:

1. Put the flowers between paper inside a plain book or a microwave press. Keep out any book with gold embossing, metal parts or metal on the cover, and check the spine too.
2. Heat in short bursts. The guides give 10 to 60 seconds, and only UMD Extension gives a power level (half power). Start with 10 seconds, and use a low power setting if your microwave has one.
3. Open the book or plates between bursts to let the steam out. Red Ted Art says to open the page gently, and First Day of Home says to air out the plates.
4. Let it cool before you touch the flowers. Red Ted Art says the book gets very warm.

For the iron:

1. Lay the flowers between sheets of paper on a heat-resistant board, not a table.
2. Turn the steam off. All four guides say so.
3. Press down, then lift. UMD Extension says to lift and press, not to iron like a shirt.
4. Work in short intervals: 10 seconds and then 10 to 15 seconds (UMD Extension), or 15 to 30 seconds (First Day of Home).

Which flowers press best?

Pansies and daisies are the easiest, going by the guides: each is named as easy by 7 of the 10. Roses follow at 6 when they are single or shrub roses, then violets and ferns at 4 each. We counted how many guides name each flower as easy or as hard, and the tables show the results.

Poppies, calendula, delphinium, zinnias and forget-me-nots follow with 2 each.

Nine of the 10 guides warn in general terms about thick, many-layered or watery flowers. Only Paper Thin Moon does not.

Two flowers sit on both lists. Roses are easy as single or shrub roses and hard as full ones. Zinnias are easy on two pages and hard on Homestead and Chill.

How do you press roses, peonies and other thick flowers?

Thick flowers such as roses and peonies are the hard case. The guides give five different fixes, and none of them says what counts as thick or reports how well a fix works. If you try one, expect up to four weeks in a book.

• Cut them in half. Viola Floral, Chalking Up Success and First Day of Home do this for roses and peonies.
• Press the petals only. Red Ted Art says to press big roses as loose petals. First Day of Home says peonies and ranunculus can be dried whole or as petals.
• Add a tissue layer. Red Ted Art puts tissue between flowers and paper, then moves them to a fresh book after 3 to 4 days.
• Give them more time. Viola Floral says 3 to 4 weeks. Homestead and Chill says up to 4.
• Skip them. Chalking Up Success calls large fleshy flowers not suitable, because of the water in them.

No guide gives a time for one named thick flower. If you want a rose, the petals-only route is the one Red Ted Art spells out for roses.

Which paper should you use?

Plain white or printer paper is the safe pick. It turns up on three lists (UMD Extension, Chalking Up Success and Rizzo), and we found no warning against it. Past that, the guides split.

• Paper towels: three guides say avoid them (UMD Extension, Chalking Up Success, First Day of Home), because the pattern or texture presses into the petals. Rizzo allows them "in a pinch".
• Parchment: five guides recommend it (Viola Floral, Homestead and Chill, First Day of Home, Rizzo, Leigh Florist). Chalking Up Success says parchment and wax paper are not absorbent enough and can lead to mould.
• Newspaper: the Natural History Museum calls it fairly absorbent with anti-fungal properties. UMD Extension lists it too.
• Blotting paper and coffee filters: five guides name blotting paper (Viola Floral, Red Ted Art, Homestead and Chill, First Day of Home, Leigh Florist), and three name coffee filters (Viola Floral, Red Ted Art, First Day of Home).

Why do pressed flowers turn brown or go mouldy?

Moisture and slow drying, say the guides, and none explains why a flower browns. Red Ted Art, Homestead and Chill and Viola Floral blame wet flowers. UMD Extension says to dry flowers quickly to prevent browning. The Natural History Museum says bluebells lose moisture slowly and tend to go mouldy.

The only test for "dry enough" is Viola Floral's: a papery texture, crispness and no moisture on the paper. If a page looks damp, Rizzo says to remove any mould at the first check and replace the paper. UMD Extension also says to swap the absorbent paper then.

Which birth flowers press well?

We checked the 12 main flowers in our birth month flower lists against the 10 guides. Daisy (April) is the safest bet, easy on 7, and violet (February) is easy on 4. Larkspur (July) and aster (September) are called easy by one guide, Homestead and Chill.

Rose (June) is easy as single or shrub roses on 6 and hard when thick on 4. Carnation (January) and marigold (October) are each called hard by one guide, and peony, which three lists add for November, by two.

Daffodil (March) and narcissus (December) are the same plant family, and they show up once, as dwarf daffodils, which Paper Thin Moon lists as easy. Lily of the valley, gladiolus and chrysanthemum are not named by any of the 10, so we can't tell you how they press.

How long do pressed flowers last, and what can you make?

We found no guide that gives a number of years. Viola Floral and Rizzo both say to keep pressed flowers out of direct sun, and Viola adds sealed frames or acid-free paper.

The guides name the same handful of uses, including cards, bookmarks and framed art. If you add a pressed flower to a card, our birthday card guide has lines to start from. Our gift wrapping guide covers paper sizes.

Rather buy them pressed? Our wedding cake toppers list includes a set of 50 food-safe pressed flowers from an Etsy shop.

Start with pansies or daisies in a heavy book and leave them about two weeks. If you want to check for damp paper, do it once at one week, as UMD Extension and Rizzo do.

How we compared the guides

We took the guide pages Google showed in the US for "how to press flowers": five organic results (the Natural History Museum, Viola Floral, UMD Extension, Red Ted Art, Homestead and Chill), four from the image results (Chalking Up Success, First Day of Home, Jennifer Rizzo, Paper Thin Moon) and one source from the AI answer (Leigh Florist). A Reddit thread also ranked, but it is not a guide, so we left it out.

We read all 10 on October 22, 2026. Two are institutions (the Natural History Museum and UMD Extension), two are florists (Viola Floral and Leigh Florist), and the other six are craft or home blogs.

We counted what each page says. A guide counts as giving steps for a method only if it walks through it. A guide that only names a method is left out of that count.

We re-checked the drying times and the quoted lines against each page's own text. The flower counts come from our read of each page.

This is one snapshot of Google's US desktop results for that phrase, so the counts describe these 10 pages only. They show who says what, not which guide is right.