pressing plants, with herbarium curator linda lipsen

I SAW NEWS of a new book called “Pressed Plants” recently, and it got me thinking about my grandmother and one of the many crafts she enjoyed way back when. Grandma made what she called “pressed-flower pictures,” bits of her garden that she carefully dried, arranged on fabric and framed under glass. And some of those still hang on my walls. It also got me thinking of the 500-year-old tradition of pressing plants for science and the herbarium world.

Whatever the intention, pressed plants are the subject I discussed withLinda Lipsen, author of the book“Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium.” Linda presses specimens in the name of science as a curator at the University of British Columbia Herbarium in Vancouver. (Above, a mounted specimen of Lilium leichtlinii from the UBC Herbarium.)

She’s carrying on a method of recording the botanical world this way as humans have for centuries. We talked about what information those centuries of pressings hold for us in today’s world and how and why we gardeners might want to give pressing plants a try, whether for art or for science.

Plus: Comment in the box near the bottom of the page for a chance to win a copy of “Pressed Plants.”

Read along as you listen to the Aug. 28, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

pressing plants, with linda lipsen

Margaret: We’ve had fun. We did a “New York Times” garden column about this world of craft and science of pressing plants and what they mean to all of us in different ways. I’ve just been enjoying your book enjoying so much. It’s so practical and also gives all of the reasons behind