I had my first encounter with the beautiful full headed zinnias in my first year with gorgeous bouquet made from a small farm in North Carolina. There I scoured the internet looking for resources or guidance on best practices, reached out to fellow flower preservers online, but one thing I found; there was no clear answer on what to do. I was told to press the whole head with lots of newspaper, press the whole head and change the paper, remove the back and a few layers and press the remaining, take it apart petal by petal and press, etc.

From my trail and error, I can confidently say, PRESS ZINNIAS PETAL BY PETAL.

It may seem tedious and you may just say why can’t I just change the paper daily. My experience, it’s more dangerous to mess with the flowers daily and there’s still not a for sure that mold wont appear out of nowhere.

Petal by petal is the way to go.

And the end result….well, I’d have to say it was well worth it.