Such is my love of the scent of Lily of the Valley that in previous homes I’ve tried over and over to grow them by planting the rhizomes in my garden - but, sadly, I never succeeded.
So it was a wonderful surprise to discover, a month or so after I moved to Abergavenny, that I have a front garden half full of them!
Each year they take over more of the area under the gorgeous magnolia tree. And I’m happy to let them because very little else wants to grow there, apart from spring bulbs and wild violets.
and the article also points out that they are both invasive and poisonous,
neither of which is a problem as far as I’m concerned.)
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| image from thelabelman.com |
As you can see from this Lily-of-the-Valley Pinterest Board, this pretty little flower,that often hides it’s bell-shaped blooms beneath its large, sword-like leaves, was a favourite with the Art Nouveau and Art Deco designers and illustrators.
So I think that must have been somewhere at the back of my mind when I designed my first May Birth Month Flower birthday cards a couple of years ago.
So, last month, I set about creating a new collection of Lily of the Valley patterns, hoping to find a way to retain the ‘vintage’ feel of the Edwardian era, while allowing my more ‘natural’, flowing style to come to the fore.
Here are a few of the sketches I made for the new ‘For the Love of Lilies’ collection for my Posh & Painterly store:
And here are a few of the Greeting Cards I’ve made – all in a choice of three background colours that keep reminding me of the costumes of period dramas such as ‘Downton Abbey’!
Here are the rest of the
