SUMMER COLLECTION...
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.”
― Luther Burbank
TO PRESS PLANTS
A Herbarium is a collection of pressed plants. Done correctly it should describe the plant by its Latin name, and class. Document how and when the plant is picked, what characteristics it has, and the name of the collector. Herbarium has been indispensable as a method to catalog and acquire knowledge of the plant.
Clyde Collis herbarium from 1912. Photo published by Lloyd Library and Museum.
As hobby botanist, of course you do not have to be so thorough. I just like to collect the pretty flowers. I like the idea of capturing some of this summer's abundance, create my own sweet memories that I can use as cards, gifts, pictures or decorate my notebooks with.
IT'S SO EASY ....
1: Go out and enjoy the summer. Pick the flowers or plants you want to keep (just make sure you are allowed to pick them).
2: Place the flowers/plants on paper - I use both newspaper, as well as brown or handmade paper, depending on what I will use the flowers for, or what I have at hand. If the plants are very juicy it might be useful to add two layers of paper in between the plants to prevent moisture pulls through and destroys some of the other plants.
3: Place the flowers in the press. Whether under a stack of books, in a force or whatever else you might have on hand.
4: Wait ....
The plants may need as much as 14 days to dry properly.
5: Open the press. Be careful when doing so, dried flowers are fragile. Now you can paste them into your diary with scribblings about sweet summer memories. You can create beautiful cards, frame them to hang on your wall, or whatever else you choose. :)
Enjoy the summer!
