Blue Hydrangeas

On August 16, 2017, in Sioux Falls, SD, the U.S. Postal Service^® will issue the Flowers From the Garden First-Class Mail^® stamps (Forever^® priced at 49 cents), in four designs, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) booklet and coils. The stamps will go on sale nationwide August 16, 2017.

The U.S. Postal Service® celebrates the beauty of flowers from American gardens. The four stamps feature still-life paintings of bountiful floral bouquets.

The paintings were inspired by floral still lifes created by Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th and 18th centuries. Each stamp features one of four different paintings of flowers gathered from the garden and artfully arranged in a container. One stamp features red camellias and yellow forsythia in a yellow pitcher, while on another there are white peonies and pink tree peonies in a clear vase. An arrangement of white hydrangeas, white and pink roses, green hypericum berries, and purple lisianthus in a white vase graces another stamp, while blue hydrangeas in a blue pot appear on another.

The floral paintings of the Dutch and Flemish artists featured exuberant, massed arrangements, which gave the impression of wild abandon and impromptu creativity. However, the arrangements were in reality carefully thought out and many times purely imaginary—and frequently botanically impossible. Though they looked as if they had just been plucked from the garden, the bouquets might include flowers that did not bloom during the same season or sometimes even grow in the same country.

Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps with existing art by Elizabeth Brandon.