If you don’t pick up “garbage” in autumn, your whole year on earth will be in vain!

In autumn, we see a lot of fallen leaves, fruits, seeds and other plant debris. If we collect them, we can make them into natural decorations or small ornaments.

Autumn is a good time to pick up "garbage". Why not go out more and add some decorations to your home?｜Pixabay

This is a gift from nature to us, so please seize the short autumn and enjoy it to your heart's content! (It is good to enjoy the autumn, and it is also OK to collect leaves and pine cones in moderation, but don't enjoy the autumn in a predatory way , and take away the food for the little squirrels. For details, please see the second push today.)

How to collect leaves

The most common things to collect in autumn are plant leaves , especially leaves from some trees. Because they are everywhere, you don’t need to look for them specifically to find them. But even the most common leaves need some simple processing before they can be collected.

Autumn leaves collected by the author in Hangzhou | Tiandong

What's so difficult about this? Isn't it just picking up a leaf and putting it between a book and letting it dry? I did this in elementary school in science class!

It's not that simple. Indeed, putting the leaves in a book is the simplest way to deal with them, and this method is similar to the method of making " herbarium specimens " in botany.

Herbarium specimen: a type of plant specimen that is used for both scientific research and popular science display by flattening, drying, shaping, and finally fixing the plant with flowers and fruits on a paper stand.

Since plant tissues usually contain a lot of water, during long-term storage, water-rich tissues are prone to breed various fungi and cause mildew. Therefore, drying is the most important step in the production of herbarium specimens. Only when the cells of plant specimens die during the drying and dehydration process can they avoid rotting and deterioration and be preserved for a long time.

Dried and pressed leaf specimens | Neuchâtel Herbarium / wikimedia

The traditional method of making wax leaf specimens is to sandwich the collected fresh plants between absorbent papers, and then clamp them with specimen clamps. The water in the plant tissues is sucked out by constantly replacing the absorbent papers and squeezing them mechanically. However, due to the destruction of pigments such as chlorophyll and anthocyanin, the specimens usually fade and turn yellow-brown .

In order to preserve the color, we can refer to the operation idea when making plant specimens in the wild: quick drying . In areas with high humidity, when making plant specimens, the plants are clamped with corrugated paper, and then dried with a warm air machine facing the hollow "corrugated" of the corrugated paper. This is actually done to quickly dehydrate.

Faded herbarium specimen｜Neuchâtel Herbarium / wikimedia

If you make leaf specimens at home, you can use a similar method:

Cover the leaves on both sides with a highly absorbent paper such as napkins or toilet paper, and clamp them with a flat, hard object on the outside. Books, wooden boards, or other boards are all fine, and small specimen clips for home use are also fine. Then, use a hair dryer to blow hot air on the side. This will help the leaves dry quickly and preserve their color better.

Of course, there is also a classic operation, which is to make a " leaf vein bookmark ". This requires a certain level of hands-on ability and basic chemical experimental equipment.

Choose older and firmer plant leaves and boil or soak them in an alkaline solution. You can use edible alkali (sodium carbonate), sodium hydroxide, or a mixture of the two. The concentration and boiling time will also depend on the different leaves, until the leaf flesh can be knocked off.

The hybrid tulip tree vein bookmark is made by first treating it with an alkaline solution and knocking off the leaf flesh. The picture shows the effect of knocking off half of the leaf flesh｜Tiandong

Then take out the remaining leaf veins, flatten them on absorbent paper, and then dye them .

Staining steps｜Asparagus

Whether it's leaves or veins, they can be placed in acrylic photo frames, or clamped with blank slide boards, and the edges can be sealed with glue or sewing to make more delicate ornaments or handicrafts.

Leaf vein bookmark finished product｜Tiandong

What kind of leaves are worth collecting?

Generally speaking, you can collect any leaves you like using the above method, but leaves that are too large or contain too much water may not be suitable. For example, the breadfruit tree in the south, or the golden holly commonly cultivated in the south of central China. People usually like to find some "colorful leaves", such as leaves that turn red, yellow, orange, etc. in autumn.

Golden taro plate｜Orengi Harvey / wikimedia

red

The most classic red leaves include those of Cotinus coggygria, Liquidambar formosana, Tall tree, and some species of maple. In addition, Rhododendron chinense, Hamamelis chinensis, and Quercus rubrum are also red.

There are some exceptions, such as species such as Parthenocissus quinquefolia (five-leaf creeper), Torchwood, and Pistacia. Their leaves are pinnately compound and the leaflets can easily fall off the rachis . Therefore, if you want to collect them, you can only collect the leaflets. If you collect them together with the entire rachis, they will usually fall apart.

Five-leaf creeper red leaves｜Pixabay

yellow

The most popular yellow leaves are probably those of the Ginkgo biloba. The leaves of the Liriodendron genus are also very attractive because of their special shape and can turn yellow or orange in autumn. The leaves of some other poplar and maple genus also turn yellow.

Golden leaves of Ginkgo biloba｜needpix

orange color

Common trees with orange leaves include plane trees, horse chestnut trees, and some oak trees. The "Plantain Tree" we often call (usually refers to the two-ball plane tree) sometimes has leaves that turn orange or brown. Although the leaflets of horse chestnut trees will fall off, the orange color will be very dazzling in a few days. You can collect the leaflets and put them back together on cardboard. The orange color of the oak genus is usually Mongolian oak or oak in the north. In addition, the leaves of some plants in the genus Pteris may also turn orange.

Orange leaves of horse chestnut | Pixabay

However, in the autumn, the leaves of a certain plant may change color depending on the location. For example, the triangular maple may turn red in East China, but may only turn yellow in North China. In addition, in different years, the leaves of the same plant in the same region may change color.

There is another way to play, which is relatively easy to achieve in the north. In late autumn, some plants on the same plant will have different leaves ranging from red, orange, yellow, light green, and dark green. It will be very interesting to collect these colors together. I have seen this happen with European plums in the mountains of North China, and the golden and silver trees in Beijing have also had leaves of various colors.

Collecting leaves of different colors from the same plant and arranging them into a color wheel is also very beautiful｜Chris Glass / wikimedia

In addition to collecting physical leaves, you can also collect photos of leaves. Carry white paper or white plastic board with you, take photos of leaves, and then make your own autumn leaf posters after post-processing.

I personally prefer to "collect" in this way. I have previously made posters of 70 kinds of autumn leaves in North China, and also made stickers with these leaves. They are all very popular products in my personal online store.

Photos of autumn leaves in North China taken by the author｜Yefengji

How to collect fruits and seeds

In autumn, some people also like to collect fruits or seeds of plants. For example, "acorns" usually refer to the fruits of Fagaceae plants. If you have watched the animation "My Neighbor Totoro", you should be familiar with acorns. Let's take acorns as an example and talk about how to collect fruits and seeds.

Fruits and seeds collected by the author on the windowsill in autumn | Asparagus

It is not that you can just pick up acorns from the ground and put them somewhere and everything will be fine forever. I had a similar naive idea when I first collected plant seeds.

One night, I was writing in my study when I suddenly heard a faint, high-frequency, very faint sound. After searching around, I found that the sound came from the bookshelf and eventually located it on the fruit of a small bottle of cork oak. The acorns had been gnawed by small insects , and the culprit might be the oak beetle. Not only were there holes in the acorns, but there was also a lot of fine powder from the gnaws.

The acorn you're eyeing may have already been snatched up by someone else｜pexels

Therefore, the most important thing for the collected seeds is to kill insects . Even if there are no insects to the naked eye, it is unknown whether there are insects inside, whether there are insect eggs or pupae. There are two ways to kill insects. One is to put them in the freezer of the refrigerator . Usually in North China and its south, the collected seeds are frozen for one month, which can basically eliminate the potential threat of insects.

Another method is to use insecticides . For example, take a large sealable bag, put the seeds in it, spray the bag with insecticide, and then seal it. If you think the smell of insecticide is too strong, putting two electric mosquito coils in it will also work. After sealing the bag , wait for one to two weeks , and most insects will be eliminated.

Some larger pine cones are great decorations when you pick them up and put them at home. They can also be used to make other crafts, such as Christmas-themed ornaments｜Pixabay

Another important thing is to dry the seeds and prevent moisture . The seeds of some plants have a high water content. If they are placed in a relatively closed environment, they will easily mold. For example, the seeds of egg yolk fruit (and some other Sapotaceae plants) may need to be dried for several months before the moisture in them will slowly dissipate.

The pit of the Argania spinosa tree. Roger Culos / wikimedia

Dried seeds also need to be protected from moisture , especially in the south. They can be placed in a relatively closed display box with silica gel particles in the box.

What fruits and seeds are there?

In fact, as long as the seeds of plants are not easy to fall apart or "explode", you can collect them according to your personal preferences. Of course, when collecting, you must abide by relevant laws and regulations and avoid climbing and breaking flowers and trees. At the same time, don't collect them in a predatory manner. After all, many fruit seeds are food for small animals, so don't compete with small animals for food.

It is easy to understand why they fall apart. For example, the cones of cedar easily fall apart once they are ripe, making them difficult to preserve.

Cedar cones | Lewis Potter / geograph.org.uk

A common example of "explosion" is the fruit of the genus Typha (commonly known as "cattail stick"). Cattail sticks look chubby and cute, and can also be used as flower arrangement materials. But if placed in a room, they may suddenly burst one day, and many "white hairs" will fly out. In addition, the fruits of the genus Dioscorea and the genus Anemarrhena will inevitably crack after being left for a long time.

"Fried" cattails｜needpix

Many people like pine cones or pine cones of pine plants (excluding the cedars mentioned above). Pine cones do not need to be specially dried in the sun, and usually will not mold. They can also be used to decorate some small landscapes. In particular, pine cones have an interesting feature: if the air is humid, for example, if you spray some water on the pine cones, the "scales" on them (mainly wood or leather seed scales) will close; after being exposed to the sun, when the air is drier, the "scales" will open again.

Christmas themed window decorations made with pine cones | needpix

The shapes of some fruit pits are also worth playing with, and they have all appeared in the "Bodhi seed" market. For example, the fruit pit of the mountain peach is called the fairy peach Bodhi or the dragon pattern Bodhi; the fruit pit of the southern jujube is commonly known as the five-eyed fruit, also called the five-eyed six-way Bodhi; the human face or large-fruited human face is called the ghost face Bodhi. In addition, the fruit pits of the genus Elaeocarpus and some palm plants are also very interesting.

Bracelets are jokingly called the hobby of middle-aged people｜Ronggy / wikimedia

But these pits may require you to get the pulp clean on your own.

After removing the pulp, soak the core in water, such as in a mineral water bottle, fill it with water and tighten the lid. Soak for a week or two until the pulp is rotten, take it out and brush it clean with a broken toothbrush, and let the core dry.

By the way, the smell of water that has been soaked for a week or two is very... indescribable.

Flower collection and production

There are different ways to collect plant flowers. For example, if some people like natural dried flowers, they can choose species such as Globe amaranth, Immortelle, and Limonium, air-dry them directly, and then dye them.

Dried Immortelle Flowers | maxpixel

In areas with dry air, air drying is easier. In relatively humid areas, you can hang the collected or purchased flowers, along with the stems and some leaves you want to keep, upside down in the room, and open windows and doors for ventilation to increase air flow. This way, it is relatively less likely to mold during the air drying process.

Flowers including modern roses and some species of foliage plants such as eucalyptus can be dried using this method.

Dried flowers hanging upside down in the room to dry｜Pixabay

Eucalyptus branches (eucalyptus leaves) have been very popular in the flower market in the past two years. You can try to air-dry the fresh branches you bought for long-term storage｜CGWF / flickr

The gifts of nature are often hidden in the inconspicuous places around us. If you pay attention to the streets and trees you pass by every day, you can get free gifts.

Author: Tian Dong

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)