Table of Contents
This botanical junk journal kit gathers old flower plates and quiet greenhouse corners into one printable set, ready for anyone who loves pressed leaves and ink and watercolour studies. Inside are 20 scene pages full of botanist’s desks, Wardian cases and roots-and-all flower anatomy, 4 seamless background papers built from scattered leaves and fern fronds, and 5 lined writing pages framed with the same motifs for notes, lists and pressed-flower memories.
Print on smooth white or cream cardstock, somewhere around 160 to 200gsm so ink does not show through when you glue pages back to back. Choose the best photo setting your home printer offers, then trim close to the edge with scissors or a paper trimmer before you add anything to your journal.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Flower Anatomy Studies
Open the kit with a full study of a pink peony, bud and all, showing roots, leaves and bloom the way an old nursery catalogue would.
Leave a little room beside the stem for a line about where the plant came from, a garden you visited or a flower you want to grow next. If you are new to this kind of page, just trace the plate shape lightly first before adding any writing over it.
Pair this herbarium sheet of pressed fern fronds with the fern frond toss background further on in this set, using the pattern as an end paper and this plate as the facing page for a matched spread.
A botanist’s desk holds pressed leaves, a wooden flower press and small glass specimen jars, all caught mid-work as if the botanist just stepped away.
Tuck a real pressed leaf or petal into the gap left near the jars, or glue in a small paper label naming the plant you are studying that week. This page also works well as a divider between journal sections.
The usual mistake with a foxglove plate like this one is cramming the seed pods and cross-section bloom too close to the main stem, so leave a little breathing room between each detail and the tall flower spike.
This quiet greenhouse corner holds potted ferns, stacked terracotta pots and a small trowel resting against the glass, the kind of still moment worth keeping on its own page.
Give the entry below it to a gift journal for a gardening friend, someone who would rather talk about soil and light than almost anything else. Keep the writing short, just a line about what she is growing this season.
Try the five minute version of this page: trim it close, glue it straight onto a background sheet, and skip any extra decoration since the bulb, petal and stamen detailing already carries the whole page on its own.
Greenhouse And Garden Rooms
A glass Wardian case full of ferns sits on a parlor table edged with lace, a small scene of indoor gardening from a century when ferns filled every front room.
Ask yourself a short question on this one before you write: which plant on your windowsill needs the most patience, and why does it still earn a spot in the sun.
The maidenhair fern sits in its terracotta pot beside a small watering can and a pair of gardening gloves, waiting for the next line of your answer.
Oak, maple and ginkgo leaves lie arranged with a few acorns on a linen display board, sorted the way a careful collector would lay them out to dry.
Place this iris study beside the vintage leaf specimen grid background later in the set, using the grid paper as a pocket lining behind the plate to hold a second smaller clipping.
Leaves And Pressed Treasures
Pressed violets, buttercups and a sprig of clover sit on a sheet of blotting paper with a pair of fine tweezers laid across one corner.
This one suits anyone who presses real flowers between the pages of her own books, since it mirrors that habit on paper instead. Add a date near the blotting paper edge to mark when you found each bloom.
Tear the edge of this rose hip plate roughly by hand instead of cutting it straight, since the torn line echoes the thorny branch far better than a clean scissor cut would.
A potting bench holds young seedlings in clay pots, a few dry seed pods and a loose coil of garden twine, the everyday clutter of someone who gardens often.
Give this delicate lily of the valley plate to the gentlest page in a gift journal, perhaps for a bride or a new mother, since the small white bells and quiet roots suit a soft, hopeful kind of entry.
Magnolia branch, open blossom, closed bud and a woody seed cone all sit together on one plate, enough detail to fill the page without crowding it.
Bundles of drying herbs hang over a window, with a mortar and pestle set on the sill below them: a small scene for anyone who keeps a kitchen garden going year round.
Write a short remedy or a favourite tea recipe underneath it, since the mortar and pestle practically asks for one. Skip the writing entirely and the page still stands on its own as a quiet corner of the journal.
Fold this poppy plate in half down the centre and you get a small pocket page, perfect for tucking a pressed poppy petal or a cut flower seed packet behind the open bloom.
Citrus trees in large pots fill this orangery scene, with a wicker chair tucked between ferns in the corner, the kind of room built for slow winter afternoons.
Flower Anatomy Studies
Keep the five minute version in mind here too: this hydrangea study already shows the leaf, the full flower head and a single separated floret, so a plain trim and glue job is enough on a busy day.
Close the scene pages with a sweet pea vine, its curling tendrils, ripe pods and pastel blooms climbing across the sheet exactly as they would up a garden trellis.
Background Papers
Small fern fronds scatter in a loose all-over toss across this sheet, handy as a soft lining behind a window page or cut down for a pocket on the inside cover of your journal.
Pressed leaf shapes repeat in a neat grid here, close enough to an old specimen sheet to sit behind a photo, line a pocket, or wrap a plain journal cover.
Small wildflower sprigs repeat in a gentle scatter, light enough to sit under handwriting, line the back of a pocket page, or cover the spine of a handmade journal.
Ginkgo fans and maple leaves scatter loosely across this last background, equally at home behind a framed photo, inside a pocket, or wrapped around the front cover of your journal.
Lined Writing Pages
Pressed specimen shapes frame the edge of this page, leaving the ruled centre open for a gift list, a note on where a pressed flower came from, or a short letter to next year’s self.
A single fern frond runs down one side of this page, light enough to leave the ruled lines clear for a planting log, a packing list, or notes from a greenhouse visit.
Small pressed leaves cluster in each corner here, a quiet frame for a recipe using garden herbs, a letter to a gardening friend, or a simple weekly to-do list.
A thin flowering vine traces the full border of this page, leaving room inside for a menu from a garden lunch, a gift list for a gardener, or a note on seeds to save.
A row of small pressed flowers lines the bottom edge only, leaving the rest of the page open for a wish list of plants to grow, a short diary entry, or a letter to next year.
What to Do Next
Print the full set, sort the pages into the order you like, and start gluing the first spread this weekend, perhaps pairing the fern frond toss background with the pressed herbarium sheet. For more printable inspiration, browse the boho junk journal set or the butterfly junk journal pages next.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a botanical junk journal kit like this one?
Smooth white or cream cardstock around 160 to 200gsm works best, since it holds fine ink lines crisply and takes glue without curling or letting ink show through on the back.
What printer settings give the clearest botanical detail?
Use the best photo or highest quality setting your printer offers, since fine ink outlines on botanical plates lose their crispness on a draft or economy setting.
What size should I print these pages at for a standard junk journal?
Print at full letter or A4 size for a standard journal, then trim each sheet down with scissors or a paper trimmer to fit whatever page size your journal uses.
Do I need to colour anything on these botanical pages?
No colouring is needed, since every page already comes filled in with watercolour, though a fine pen is handy for adding dates, labels or short notes directly onto the scenes.
What do I use to glue the pages into a journal?
An acid free glue stick works well for flat pages and keeps the paper from wrinkling, while washi tape suits pocket pages or anywhere you want a removable edge.
Have any thoughts?
Share your reaction or leave a quick response — we’d love to hear what you think!
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