The Province

Pressed pansies are perfect bookmarks

- Helen Chesnut

Q I am a member of a book club. We are all avid readers and most of us are also keen gardeners. We’ve been discussing the possibilit­y of growing plants with leaves or flowers that could be fairly easily pressed and dried for using as markers for the books we are reading and to tuck into books we choose to give as gifts. Can you suggest a few plants that would work well for this purpose?

A: The most historical­ly traditiona­l flower for pressing and placing in a book, usually to mark some wellloved passage, is the pansy. Derived from the French verb penser, to think, pansy stands for “thoughts.” The Elizabetha­ns knew it as “heartsease.” Among the pansies and violas, the small, dark flowers retain their colouring best when dried.

Buttercup keeps its golden colour well. Individual petals of California poppy and sprigs of heather bearing their tiny flowers are good choices too.

My favourite leaves for pressing into bookmarks are those of costmary (Tanacetum balsamita, book leaf, Bible leaf). The long, oval leaves have a refreshing balsamic and minty lemon scent. The dried leaves retain their fragrance. This is not a commonly available herb. Richters Herbs (richters.com) offer the plants.

Bracken is said to press well. Choose either young, green or, later in the season, golden shoots that are perfectly flat. Dry them between layers of newspaper with a weight on top.

Sweet bay (Laurus nobilis), also fragrant, should dry well this way too. If you are located on the coast, it should not be hard to find a tree in the garden of someone you know. This is the plant that produces the bay leaves we use in cooking.

Flowers can be pressed between pages toward the end of a book, on paper towel placed on waxed paper to keep the pages clean. Cover with more towel and waxed paper. Close the book and stack more on top.

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