Dry Plants

A fascination with dried plants and leaves

When I was a boy, I had this habit of taking a small leaf and putting it in a schoolbook inside its pages. After a while, the leaf became greenish-brown. When dried, the leaf transformed into a beautiful craft with clearer linings.

Fascinated seeing the change in the leaf, and its colours as it became harder and firmer; a joy a small boy could get captivated and hooked in.

As a kid, I saw beautiful patterns from dried leaves. I began to see nature inside my schoolbooks. It was a lesson in nature.

I have continued this habit and my fascination with dried leaves, some nine thousand kilometres from where it began many decades ago.

My beloved adopted country, Australia, has many native plants that can withstand heat. When I go for walks, I see them in the wild. Their green is unique. A green I am yet to find in other countries I have visited.

Sometimes, I pick a twig or plant branch and bring it home. Eventually, when they wilt, they change colour gradually, first to a dried green and eventually to a greenish-brown. It reminds me of the temporary nature of our own lives. It reminds me of my schoolboy habit of dried leaves in my books that changed colour in front of my eyes.

The native plants picked up during my walks, now adorning my home. These are eucalyptus varieties.

The beauty of dried leaves is that I have deferred the end of the leaves for a short while. I give them a new life of their own to by preserving them a little more. I accept that the leaves will wither one day. I know that when I bring them into my life.

My dried plants and leaves were once fresh. They had a life of their own at one time. Their beauty is in their temporary nature. Their beauty is in their fleetingness and my effort to extend their life.