British Spring Flowers

The clocks went forward one hour in Europe in the early hours of the morning today and the March equinox came and went several days ago, so it is now officially springtime! In Rome, balmy temperatures and blue skies have also heralded in the new season and the cyclamens have been in bloom for a full month now on my balcony. Viridian’s Postcard Blog is celebrating spring in the blog meme Sunday Stamps this week, so I thought this 1979 set of British Flowers stamps issued on the first day of spring that year on 21st March, would be a perfect match, featuring as it does, four typically springtime blooms. I remember buying this set as a child and it came as quite a jolt to realise that over thirty years have past since I really looked carefully at these stamps!

This is the front and back of a presentation pack issued by the British Post Office and designed by John Gibbs and illustrated by Janet Marsh. The message behind these stamps was to encourage people to stop picking these once-common flowers to ensure their preservation for generations to come. The stamps themselves were designed by Northamptonshire artist Peter Newcombe. Newcombe is a landscape artist and these stamps are essentially landscapes in miniature with each flower shown in its natural habitat.