Native plants mandala featuring goldenrod and white-banded Scoliid wasps 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 wasp's lifecycle. 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 Mining Gold, was created from this photo of a double-banded scoliid (sko-LEE-ud) wasp (Scolia bicincta) on goldenrod taken at the West Virginia Botanic Garden near Morgantown. Scoliid wasps are most often noticed in the garden in late summer, when adults are found sipping nectar from goldenrod in the old basin.

Common in West Virginia, the double-banded scoliid is often found visiting goldenrod and other native plants in the garden. The wasps’ sudden summertime appearance might lead you to believe they fly in from elsewhere, but the adults you see have actually just emerged from underground where they began life as eggs laid in the bodies of paralyzed beetle grubs. After hatching and consuming the bodies of their hosts, scoliid larvae spin tough underground cocoons in which to spend the fall, winter, and spring months. Come July, they pupate and emerge as the black and white adults you see sipping nectar.