Yes, taking pictures of flowers is harder than what one might think. I'd climb mountains, or hike miles around the seashore trying to get some nice landscape photos. I would get some good ones, and then see these flowers from other people and I would think how easy it must have been for them. But it's not. Yes, they probably didn't walk for miles, but there's techniques to taking them.
First isolate the flower you want...try getting one that is separate from the others. Make sure that you have good lighting conditions...focus on them and have enough depth of field to keep the entire flower in focus. Some people don't do that, and then their flower looks kind of washed out...soft...fuzzy...blurry...just not good at all.
Have you tried the 40-150mm kit lens for the flowers? I use that one and the Zuiko 70-300mm lens for best results. Also, since I live in rainy and cloudy Oregon, I've gotten real good at keeping the camera steady (because of low-light conditions and subsequently low shutter speeds). I don't carry a tripod either, but if I can, I'll lean on something or sit down and rest my elbows on my legs...things like that. If you have a chance, take a look at the last photo I submitted here, the one of a weed. I took that at 1/40 of a second, hand-held...and it came out as sharp as a tack at 114mm FL. To me it's a challenge to get good photos with less than desirable conditions. It was sunny that day, but my weed (actually the teasel) was in the shade...the shade created by some nearby trees.
I hope I've helped so you can get those great looking flowers.
