About This Stamp
Gardening is one of the nation’s favorite pastimes, and with these stunning new stamps, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates the American passion for flowers and gardens.
Allen Rokach took the photos that grace the stamps. With these close-up shots, the flowers are the stars, taking up almost the entire frame of each photo. Each stamp features one of the following flowers: a pink flowering dogwood; a rose-pink and white tulip; an Allium or ornamental onion; a pink and white Asiatic lily; a magenta dahlia; a yellow and pink American lotus; a pink moth orchid with mottled petals; a pink and white sacred lotus; an orange and yellow tulip; and a yellow moth orchid with a pink center.
Gardens can be as small as a collection of pots on a windowsill or as large as space, money, and time will allow. Orchids, cacti, herbs, and many other flowering plants can be grown indoors as well as outside. There are any number of outdoor garden styles, including enchanting cottage gardens; water gardens, where lotus abound; woodland gardens that feature flowering trees and shrubs; and even gardens that highlight only one kind or one color of flower.
Some gardens feature bright, sun-loving annuals (plants that last one gardening year); others highlight the beauty of perennials (plants that come back year after year). The two types woven together in a flower bed can create a colorful garden that produces blooms from early spring to late fall. Plantings can be formal or whimsical, regimented or exuberant.
Greenhouses, nurseries, catalogs — there are any number of ways to find plants, seeds, bulbs. Gardeners love to trade cuttings from their plantings as well as share tips and advice. With thousands of garden clubs across the country, experienced and novice gardeners alike can find a community of like-minded enthusiasts. Almost uncountable numbers of books, magazines, websites, and blogs—not to mention local classes—make flower gardening an easy and captivating hobby to begin, so you can create garden beauty of your own.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with existing photographs by Allen Rokach.
Garden Beauty will be issued in booklets of 20 Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.
Photographer
Allen Rokach
Allen Rokach (1942–2021) was a preeminent nature, garden, and travel photographer. His 40-year career included stints as director of photography at the New York Botanical Garden and senior photographer for Southern Living magazine. His work appeared in many prestigious publications including National Geographic, Audubon, Coastal Living, Fine Gardening, Garden Design, Horticulture, and The New York Times.
An active photographic educator throughout his career, Mr. Rokach initiated and coordinated the Certificate Program in Nature and Garden Photography at the New York Botanical Garden and taught photography at numerous institutions, including the American Museum of Natural History, the Biltmore Estate, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and the Winterthur Museum & Gardens. In 1988, Rokach founded the Center for Nature Photography, which sponsors instructional nature and garden photography workshops.
With his wife, Anne Millman, Rokach co-authored 15 books and articles on aspects of photography, nature, and travel, including Focus on Flowers: Discovery & Photographing Beauty in Gardens & Wild Places (Abbeville Press), which won the 1991 award for photography from the Garden Writers Association of America (now Garden Communications International). His photographs have also been published in many other books.
Rokach’s work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, New York Academy of Sciences, Wave Hill, and the Horticultural Society of New York. Existing photographs by Rokach were featured on the 2020 American Gardens stamp issuance, the 2021 Garden Beauty stamps, and the 2024 Autumn Colors issuance.