So now I'm a convert, and yes, I'm still saving those seed-embedded papers, and thinking that early next spring I'm going to go for another round. (spring or autumn is the best time to plant wildflower seeds, not in the heat of summer when they're more likely to desiccate.)
I was also happy to learn that there are several companies out there that make wedding invitations and favors,
memorial cards (what a nice rememberence!) boxes, and stationery from plantable paper.
Botanical Paperworks makes some pretty sweet pieces, and their style is more modern than hippie, but still has a lovely natural feel.
A memorial plant Card by Botanical Paperworks
I didn’t think about my experiment through the fall and winter, and by springtime, I had forgotten I’d even planted the seed embedded paper. But then an amazing thing happened, there were unfamiliar plants growing that didn’t look like weeds!
I grew up in the woods of the Hudson Valley (not a lot of wildflowers there), but my grandmother had once sown a huge field with wildflowers during a volunteer day at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center. I had worked there years later, mowing near those same flowers, and recognized them as similar to the young shoots headed for the sun in my yard. At least I thought I recognized them.
One of my paper seed blooms
I gave them the benefit of the doubt, not expecting that I would actually get flowers out of my saved-for-years packages from various sources. Thinking that maybe they would shoot up and flop over, never flower, or last a season and disappear, I watched and waited.
Now, I have no idea which packages ‘worked’ and which didn’t, and I think that some of them must have contained seeds that were too old to sprout, but despite these shortcomings, I’m happy to report that some of them did! Now three years later they’re still going strong in the bright sun – even despite my crummy soil. But I guess that’s the power of wildflowers – they’re hearty – from seeds to plants to flowers that, they keep going and going.
You didn’t mention the letterpress card (image 5). I recognize it from Green Field Paper. They make the plantable paper.