Last month, I shared how I was taking cuttings from my garden to preserve them in my gardening notebook.  As various other herbs and flowers have reached their peak, I have clipped them to add.  I decided I would make a quick video on pressing and mounting flowers in a notebook while I was at it.  I still have a few more to cut and press, but I have a pretty nice collection happening and I love how it makes my notebook even more personal and special.

I pressed all of the herbs, a few annuals that are in pots on the patio and in the garden beds, and blooms off of flowering bushes.  I labeled each one along with the date it was planted or cut.  Admittedly, I didn’t stay consistent with the dating, but precision wasn’t the goal.  I just want to keep a general record of the year and I look forward to adding more each season.

Here is a quick video showing the process of pressing and mounting flowers along with a tour of how my gardening notebook looks so far…

You can find a written tutorial for pressing and mounting flowers, cuttings, and herbs HERE and you can find details about my gardening notebook HERE.  THIS is the notebook I’m using.

After wanting to keep notebooks, sketchbooks, and journals for years without actually doing it, keeping a record has finally become a practice for me and one that continues to expand.  I keep a daily diary of my goals for the day, what I’m reading, and what I accomplished, along with quotes, ideas, and lists.   I have a notebook specifically for collecting quotes and other things I might want to revisit.  I usually work in 3-4 sketchbooks at any given time in different mediums.  It’s practical, so I can work in one while another is drying, and just because it’s fun to explore how different mediums look on toned sketch paper vs. thick, textured watercolor paper, etc.  I have started a notebook to nail down the color palette for my dining room mural and practice some initial sketches.  There is a small leather sketchbook holder someone custom-made for me that is small enough to tuck in my purse and take with me to church and other activities where I might want to take notes or write down thoughts.  And, among others, I have my gardening notebook to record the goings-on in my yard.

Sometimes, I am faithful about filling the pages, making great progress in one or more of the books.  Other times, they sit half-filled, waiting for my attention to return to them once again.  I have learned, though, the value of returning to them, even when they’ve been neglected for a long time.  There is satisfaction in filling a book and finishing something, but I find that it also makes me more observant and present.  It’s an analog task in a digital world.

I already enjoy looking back through books I filled even just a couple of years ago, remembering when I was studying a Manet book or going through a pen and ink phase.  There are sketching sessions I’ve done with Calvin or with friends on a creative retreat or while on a trip to Europe with my mom.

I know that by pressing and mounting these flowers, herbs, and leaves in my gardening notebook, I will remember more vividly what I planted in future years.  While it’s completely not necessary, I find it enjoyable just the same.