Anyone have a preference for flowers? If so, which and why? I've always used pastillage, but that's just cuz that's what I've always used.... so as I stil here making what seems like millions of various PINK flowers, I'm curious what everyone thinks.

I've always used gumpaste.

Form my understanding pastillage is generally used for pieces that you need to be stronger, usually larger pieces.

What I like about pastiallge is that it's inexpensive to make, especially in comparison to gumpaste. It also dries CRAZY quick, so if I'm in a crunch I'm not totally flipping out that the gumpaste hasn't dried over night.
Curious, do you tint your gumpaste, or do you make everything from white gumpaste and then paint?

I definitely use gumpaste. I use pastillage for structural pieces like bassinets, gazebos, castles, etc. I like to have time to work with petals and leaves to get them just right and pastillage dries too fast. In answer to your question about tinting or white with paint, I do both. For example, I will color it green to make leaves then I will take a couple of darker green petal dusts and paint the veins I imprinted. This gives it more depth and realistic look.

I've only made a handful of flowers.

And I don't think there is a right wrong way to do it. I do think though, you get more lifelike looks when you dust, either color over color or color over white.