Native plants mandala featuring wands of lavender liatris flowers is digitally printed using 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. Perfect for an everyday note or birthday card for a native plants gardener, nature lover, or botanist. The photograph I used to create the mandala is printed on the back of the card with the photo location and a little story about the plant. Interior of the card is blank or choose a message (choices are below). The paper is super smooth, not slick, and takes gel, ballpoint, and other inks well. The card and envelope are packaged together in a plastic sleeve and mailed in a stiffened mailer.

Interior Message Choices: Blank, Happy Birthday

Framing. This 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. The digital collage on this card, titled Liatris Light-up, was created from this photo of dense blazing star flowers (Liatris spicata) taken along the Reservoir Trail at the West Virginia Botanic Garden near Morgantown. Blazing stars, in general, are butterfly magnets. Those along the trail are often visited by silver-spotted skippers (Epargyreus clarus).

A native of West Virginia, dense blazing star enjoys a little moisture around its roots and, so, is naturally found in marshy areas, but can grow in all but the driest of soils. Given optimal conditions, blazing star’s stiff wands of purple flowers can reach six feet in height! The blazing star growing in your garden bed, however, is probably a cultivar that has been selected and bred to grow only 12 to 18 inches tall. When choosing cultivars of native plants for your garden, a good rule of thumb is size doesn’t matter, but unusually colored foliage or flowers can reduce a plant’s value to pollinators and caterpillars.