Do you remember the gardening notebook I put together in the spring? You can read about it HERE if you missed it. I thought it would be fun to keep a record of what I planted and how I cared for it so I could track what worked and what didn’t. It would also give me a place to store receipts for bushes that can be refunded if they don’t make it through the winter as well as a place to make notes to myself for future reference. I’ve put all of my plant tags in it and have recorded what I have fertilized and when. I also took cuttings from a few plants to press them for the book. Is it necessary? No. Is it a beautiful way to record what was growing in our yard each year? Yes.
I pressed them in a heavy book between two sheets of printer paper with more books stacked on top for a couple of weeks until they were flat and dry. I haven’t ever tried mounting pressed flowers or leaves before, so I just made it up and used what I had on hand. If I was creating pieces for a more formal purpose, then I might’ve done a bit more research, but this was just for fun to keep in my gardening notebook, so I wasn’t going to get the tweezers and white gloves out. I used a pH-neutral adhesive, applying a few dabs to the back of the leaves and petals.
Flowers and leaves that are ideal for pressing are typically thin and delicate. I wanted to press whatever was blooming or growing at the time, so I didn’t worry about selecting the ideal candidates. It also meant that some of the pieces were a little clumsy to glue, like the spirea.
After applying the glue, I let the pages dry until the glue was clear and no longer tacky.
I probably could’ve stopped at that step, but the cuttings felt a little fragile and I wanted to add one more layer of protection so they would hold up as I turned the pages over the years. Again, I just used what I had on hand and brushed some Matte Medium on top to seal the more delicate pieces.
I’ve never tried using Matte Medium over pressed leaves or flowers, but I’ve used it enough to know it works well for decoupage applications and you can decoupage pressed flowers.
My goal was to get everything protected and stuck uniformly to the page.
And they turned out great! I labeled each plant with a Micron waterproof pen with the name and date.
I got busy with actual gardening, so I haven’t taken more cuttings, but I’ll do that this week. I’ve got the hydrangeas, lavender, herbs, and other things to press.
Both products I used are matte and dry clear, so you can’t even see the glue.
In this day and age, it’s easy to record things digitally. We take pictures with our phones and make notes and memos on our phones, and it’s easy to neglect recording things in some sort of analog version. There is a real joy that comes from it. This notebook has not only been fun to make, but I know my future self will enjoy looking through it one day. And, hopefully, someone else will enjoy it after I’m gone. When I have the chance to buy an old notebook with sewing samples, sketches, or some other record, I think of them as treasures and a small part of history.
It would be easy for me to think that no one will ever care what I planted in my garden and when I fertilized my grass in 2024, but maybe someone will. At the very least, I will.
I’m sure someone will enjoy looking through your notebook someday, considering how popular The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden is over 100 years later!
I have that book, and I do love it.
These are lovely. It would be fun to add a photo of the perennial after planting, and another later when in full bloom. I take pix of my house after everything is planted and in the fall. Amazing contrasts, especially this year.
I wonder if you need some sort of waxy tissue on top of the page when dried so the pages don’t stick together when the book is closed.
OMG I love this. I’ve taken photos for years but it has never occurred to me to take clippings. Such a great idea I’m going to get started on my pollinator garden tomorrow. All I have is Mod Podge hope that works. Thank you once again for the inspiration
It is also nice to document the weather and what happened on each day in a yearly planner type of book just for garden. How hot or cold did it get that day. Planted seeds, how long before they germinated and how long to harvest.
Did it rain/snow and how much? The day a tree or plant finally bloomed or one was lost in a windstorm…all of this kind information can be helpful the following year. Sketches in the margins (or the whole page!) of everything happening outside, where the hot afternoon sun hits on a certain day or is it always shady in certain spots of the property. My local library has quite a few books on the subject. I think is was Thomas Jefferson who created a whole library of these kinds of diaries in a small built right in his garden!
Is that a rabbit painting in the works on the easel in your second photo?
Yes!
I love this, but I also just love the way you lay it all out and photograph it. So pretty! 😍
I started a book like this when we first moved into our house. I even drew a rendering of the front yard with each plant marked and the backyard. I, too, kept the plant tags and how everything was doing that first year. Then my dogs started digging for moles in the spring and uprooted most of what I planted. Some things got rearranged and I eventually lost track of it all. I realized how laborious this task was and eventually gave it up. If you have the time to keep up with this it is a lovely way to document your landscaping.
I love this post. Welcome to the joys of garden journals. Here are some of my favorite resources/tips you may enjoy as well.
The paper in old phone books are perfect for pressing plants. I added a blue toile book cover to mine and put it under a stack of books when needed.
You may have already discovered the joys of getting plant catalogs in winter. To me getting them in the mail feels like getting a package of sunshine from Santa. Some of my favorites are Southern Exposure Seed exchange for their whimsical gnome cover art, Van Engelen for the drawing that teach me to draw bulbs, the David Austin catalog, and the Heritage Rose catalog with a color-coded index of roses.
Here are some books you may enjoy while choosing perennial plants: (1) The Cut Flower Sourcebook: Exceptional Perennials & Woody Plans for Cutting” by Rachel Siegfried, (2) “Monet’s Passion: Ideas, Inspiration and Insights from the Painter’s Gardens,” by Elizabeth Murray’s, (3) “An American Cutting Garden: Where Summers are Hot and Winters are Cold” by a northern Virginian author Suzanne McIntire, (4) “A Year Full of Pots” by Sarah Raven and (4) “Homegorwn Tea” by Cassie Liversidge.
I love the following for garden journal inspiration: (1) “The Painted Garden” by Mary Woodin, (2) “An Island Garden” by Celia Thaxter, (3) “Creating a Garden Retreat: An Artist’s Guide to Planting an Outdoor Sanctuary” by Virginia Johnson, and (4) all of the glimpses of Clare Nolan’s journal in her book “In Bloom.” She inspired me to fill more pages in my garden journal than I care to admit.
Oh, you know the way to my heart – book recommendations! I looked at all of them, bought a few, and added others to my wishlist. Thank you so much!