Ironweed greeting card digitally printed using archival pigment inks on silky, bright white, acid-free paper. Folded card is 5.25" by 5.25" and comes with a beautifully made, bright white envelope. The photograph I used to create the ironweed mandala is printed on the back of the card with the photo location. Interior of the card is blank and the paper is super smooth, not slick, and takes gel, ballpoint, and other inks well. Perfect for a gardener, naturalist, and anyone interested in native plants for butterflies and pollinators. Also carries a strong energy of perseverance and can be used as an altar card when you need an extra dose of determination. Perfect for the Capricorn in your life, too. The card and envelope are packaged together in a plastic sleeve and mailed in a stiffened mailer. Note: one or two cards are shipped USPS First Class without tracking. Three or more cards are shipped via the most economical means, which usually includes tracking.

Framing. This ironweed greeting card is created using high-quality materials, such as might be used in a museum. The print is sharp, bright, and frameable. To protect the vibrancy of the artwork, I frame using UV glass or acrylic, and I recommend it. If you use plain glass or acrylic, make sure you hang this sweet, little piece and all your beautiful art away from direct sunlight.

About the Art. I created this mandala, titled Iron Crown, in response to a specific request for an ironweed piece. Ironweed is native to the Midwest and eastern U.S. plus Puerto Rico. Its strong stems (no flopping here!) inspired the common name. Under good conditions, you can find whole stands of ironweed growing up to ten feet tall in fields and meadows. There's a field near my house that's used to graze cattle. An impressive stand of ironweed sweeps across that field, regardless of the cattle, which seem not to prefer it as forage and also seem not to trample it. Must be some form of respect for this sturdy native that's been admired for generations and was used in traditional medicines.

The characteristics of the plant are conveyed in the finished mandala, which holds a particularly powerful energy due to the fact that I took the original photograph on the Gettysburg National Battlefield in August 2018 during a partial solar eclipse. The light had a strange quality, very bright and quite expectant. Contemplating the finished mandala tends to push me forward in whatever I'm doing, with the expectation that a breakthrough is just around the corner.