About This Stamp
The bloom of spring flowers is a source of delight for gardeners and non-gardeners alike, particularly after the chill of a long winter. Gardens provide joy, sustenance, and a sense of purpose to those who tend them, but they also give birds, plants, and animals a refuge and the resources they need to survive. With the release of the Garden Delights stamps, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates the flora and fauna of America’s spring and summer gardens.
This booklet of 20 stamps features four images, each of a single, female ruby-throated hummingbird, hovering next to either a zinnia, cigar flower, spotted touch-me-not, or sunflower.
No garden would be complete without the buzzes, hums, and musical melodies of nature’s visiting wildlife. Hummingbirds in particular have long been a source of joy in summer gardens for their enchanting countenances and diminutive size. Unique among birds, these tiny, aerodynamic marvels are remarkable pollinators as well. More than 7,000 flowering plants rely on these important avian pollinators to collect and deliver the pollen they need to produce fruit and seeds.
Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps using existing photographs by wildlife photographer Ben King.
The Garden Delights stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in booklets of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Existing Photographs By
Ben King
Growing up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, Ben King became fascinated by the wildlife around him from a young age. He spent countless hours outdoors with his field guides taking photos to try and identify the creatures he encountered. During a fifteen-year professional cycling career, his interest in wildlife photography became a passion as he travelled the world. He began to see photography not only as a way to reduce the stress of his high stakes cycling competitions, but also as a means of artistic expression.
King is a self-taught photographer and works from his studio in Charlottesville, Virginia. Although he loves searching for and learning about new species, his favorite photography moments have been capturing “the usual suspects” in ways that renew appreciation for them in others. He hopes his images stir curiosity, inspire exploration, and encourage a desire to protect the environment we share with so much incredible wildlife.
King’s photographs are in various public and private collections as well publications such as Blue Ridge Outdoors.
Garden Delights is King’s first stamp project for the U.S. Postal Service.