I would like to see the petals darkened just a bit - in my opinion they fade just a tad too much into the light background. But don't overdo it: the contrast with the dark leaf is striking.
I agree, the merge is little distracting. But the overall look of the petals is very nice. When you've done all of these flower images (assuming there is an end point - which I kinda hope not), can we see all of them in one place? They're just so great. I'd actually like to see the actual prints 'cause I know they must be even better.