Opens October 31 at 6:00 PM · Sandy Whitaker

Pressed Botanical Astilbe on Black

Name: Pressed Botanical Astilbe on Black
Brand: Botanicals by Sandy
SKU: 03-PBBS-B-001
Price: 695.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Botanicals by Sandy

$695.00

Plume, gone to smoke

Astilbe is all plume and no weight. Against black the plumes go to smoke and the leaves keep their green, which is the whole argument for the dark ground. Pressed, arranged and lettered by hand. One of one.

See all the pieces in this release →

A flower that is mostly air

Astilbe is hundreds of minute flowers on fine branching stems, which is why it reads as a plume rather than a bloom. Pressed, that structure survives almost whole. Set on black it stops looking like a garden plant and starts looking like smoke caught in a frame — the one thing a pale ground cannot do for it.

One of nine on black

Sandy works on pale parchment nearly always. These nine on black came to us as a series and there is no second run — she does not make them to order. When they have gone, the page stays up as a record of what was here.

The pressing, not a scan of it

Her own shop sells reproductions — printed and framed by partners in Atlanta. This is the pressed astilbe itself, the plant she cut and dried, with the botanical name lettered into the corner by hand.

Specifications

19½ × 12 inches, framed under glass. Approximately 2 lb.

An original pressed botanical on a black ground — the plant itself, not a reproduction. Botanical name hand-lettered in the corner. Packed by hand and shipped insured.

Pressed Botanical Astilbe on Black

$695.00

Sandy Whitaker holding an armload of fresh blue hydrangeas cut for pressing

Gathered from her garden

Most of what Sandy presses comes out of her own backyard in Cartersville — hydrangea, fern, dogwood — cut when it is right and pressed the same day. The rest she gathers from roadsides and woods.

Sandy Whitaker arranging pressed hydrangea blossoms and leaves by hand on backing boards in her Cartersville, Georgia studio

Arranged by eye, one stem at a time

Nothing is laid out to a template. Sandy works each piece by hand, then letters the botanical name into the corner when it is finished. “I try to picture them as they are in nature,” she says, “and let the flowers speak for themselves.”

Framed pressed botanicals by Sandy Whitaker hung above a console table in a Southern dining room

They gather well

One is enough to settle a wall. Several, hung close, become something else — a grid above a console, or a run up a staircase, which is what James Farmer did with her pressings in Home Again. These frames are 19½ × 12.

The maker

Botanicals by Sandy

Sandy Whitaker has pressed flowers and ferns in Cartersville, Georgia for more than twenty years, and made it her full-time work in 2011. Most of what she presses comes out of her own backyard; the rest she gathers from roadsides and woods. She arranges each piece by eye and letters the botanical name in the corner by hand.

Flower put her in a 2025 feature on herbaria — the tradition that runs back through Linnaeus and Darwin. James Farmer has used her pressings in two of his books, and a pair of her hydrangeas hung in a kitchen Erin Napier designed on Home Town in 2017.

The rest of this release

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Pressed Botanical Queen Anne's Lace on Black

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Pressed Botanical Sea Lavender on Black

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Pressed Botanical Orchid on Black

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Pressed Botanical Lenten Rose with Hammer

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Pressed Botanical Lenten Rose on Black

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Pressed Botanical Hydrangea on Black

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Pressed Botanical Gomphrena on Black

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Pressed Botanical Dogwood on Black

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Pressed Botanical Babys Breath over a chair

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Pressed Botanical Baby's Breath on Black

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Botanicals by Sandy

Pressed Botanical Astilbe on Black

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See them all

Before you buy

How is it packed and shipped?

Each piece is packed by hand and shipped insured. If anything arrives damaged, we replace it or refund you in full — send us a photograph and we'll take it from there.

Can I return it?

Yes. Send it back within 14 days of delivery and we'll refund it. Because these are made by hand, expect variation in finish, color and size from piece to piece — that isn't a fault, it's the work.

What happens if it sells before I decide?

Then it's gone. Every piece in a Short List release is one of one, and we don't reorder. Joining the list is how you hear about the next one first.

Our Retail Location

114 Bull Street
Savannah, GA

Monday, Thu-Sat: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Closed Tuesday and Wednesday

Get directions

Pressed Botanical Astilbe on Black

Plume, gone to smoke