Creating an Herbarium for Your Garden

Herbariums are collections of pressed plant specimens mounted on archival paper and labeled with the plant's identifying information and collection data. Typically, herbariums are maintained by botanical gardens, universities, and other such places; however, creating an herbarium for your own garden or surrounding environment is a nifty way to familiarize yourself and others with your surrounding plant world. An herbarium also serves as an inventory and history of the plants within your habitat.

The first step in creating an herbarium is collecting the plant and pressing it. Typically, if the plant's size permits, the entire plant is pressed. Obviously, it may be necessary to fold the stem, or remove some of the plant in order to fit it on the page of an old book or plant press. Allow about three weeks for the plant to dry. Thicker plants parts may require more time. Be sure to make a record of where and when the plant was collected. Once the plant is dry it can be mounted.

Creating an herbarium is a great nature or garden project that is suitable for all ages. It is also ideal for horticultural therapy sessions to familiarize and connect participants with the surrounding plant world. For a reproducible herbarium label see this related post: http://oldgardensolutions.blogspot.com/2013/07/herbarium-label-handout.html