<p>Live plant tissue imaging can be challenging due to thick, opaque tissue and interference from endogenous fluorescence. Many studies probe fixed samples, which kills the tissue and precludes observation of real time dynamics. Preparation of plant shoot tips, which preserves the genetics of a parent plant, for microscopy experiments presents additional and unique challenges: (1) producing shoot tips of sufficiently high quality by hand excision requires committed practice to obtain sufficient expertise, (2) shoot tip thickness and size vary making subcellular analysis difficult, and (3) desired sample orientation is unreliable and difficult to ensure. In this work, we demonstrate the preparation of living peppermint shoot tip sections for microscopy experiments using a Compresstome^® vibrating microtome, which dramatically reduces training time and yields significantly better sample reproducibility. We use a combination of brightfield and fluorescence microscopies to confirm sample viability and demonstrate successful histological staining without the use of fixatives or toxic additives to increase the permeation by large, hydrophobic stains or dyes.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>