The Private ArchivePictured: My Mother-in-Law’s garden recognized by the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program in 2023 and 2024.
The Private Archive
A garden is a living history—a collection of distinct lineages, seasons, and hands. But it is also transient.
The Private Archive is a bespoke commission service dedicated to documenting the provenance of a specific place. Whether it is a cutting from an ancestral estate, a rare specimen from a changing landscape, or the final bloom of a beloved planting, we arrest its decay.
We treat these commissions as site-specific preservation. Working with your own botanicals, we fossilize the texture and color of your personal history, turning ephemeral organic matter into a permanent, sculptural record of place.
Commissions often include:
Estate Transition: Flora gathered from a family home before a sale.
Ancestral Stock: Cuttings from heirloom plants passed down through generations.
Rare Specimens: Preservation of prized, high-value botanicals.
The Seasonal Record: A curated selection from a specific year or harvest.
Recent Example, May 2026
The First Place Lady Slipper
A commission dedicated to the pinnacle of a cultivator’s meticulous craft. This specific Phragmipedium lady slipper was carefully archived shortly after securing a first-place ribbon at this year’s orchid show.
To honor the prestige of the bloom, the preservation process focused on structural integrity, suspending the orchid’s distinct, pouch-like architecture and soft, dusty rose petals in a flawless three-dimensional state. The resulting sculpture is a singular botanical artifact—a permanent record of champion-tier horticulture and a lasting tribute to the grower's mastery.
