Lesson 3: Drawing Plants

I've drawn some plants... I think(?) I understood the lay-in approach, but I don't think I did a great job capturing texture. Anyway, you'll know better than I do, of course. I did have two specific questions. I was trying to draw this morel mushroom, but I really couldn't capture the different shadows at all. I tried, but it looked terrible so I just made it all black in the end. I know that's not the best, but I wasn't sure how to capture the various degrees of shadow and texture within the pockets. Any advice? I also hate the front middle petal of my lotus. This is the image I drew from, and I think the main problem is that the front petal I drew is too tall and skinny, rather than short and squatty. But I'm not sure if other things are also wrong. I couldn't seem to capture the way that it's laying. Thanks for your advice, as always!

/r/ArtFundamentals Thread Link - drawabox.com