Described by the Oxford Dictionary as a receptacle for keeping dried plants, a herbarium that is frozen is surely the best kind.
Whether they are arranged in a simple or complicated way, they are part of an attitude to ice which is refreshingly cheerful—and which is taken to the next level at Hokkaido’s snow and ice festivals in the depths of winter.
A fantasy of fern and dried hydrangea.
The requirements are simple: a tupperware dish or baking mold, boiled water and freezing temperatures—preferably below 14ºF.
Frozen herbaria (also known as botanical ice lanterns, when they are displayed with candles behind them) are a way of celebrating a period of time that is as fleeting as summer.
Frozen artworks become bird feeders with the aid of donut molds and twine. Shown here: rosehips, favored by hiyodori birds, native to Japan.
As the ice melts in sunshine, their contents become available for birds to eat.
Whether donut-shaped or herbarium-shaped, any kind of botanical design is enchanting.