Prunus dulcis Florilegium Postcard

A beautiful botanical postcard featuring the artwork of The Chelsea Physic Garden's Florilegium Society.

Image: Prunus dulcis 

Artist: Joanna Craig-McFeely

Founded in 1995, the Florilegium Society is composed of skilled botanical artists, dedicated to capturing the beauty and intricacies of plants from the Chelsea Physic Garden's Living Collection.

Each year, artist members use living specimens from the garden to create detailed botanical paintings. These artworks, if deemed acceptable by a panel including esteemed botanists from Kew, are donated to the Physic Garden and added to its growing collection. These illustrations must accurately depict identifying botanical features of each plant, ensuring they serve as precise scientific records. 

Historically, 17th-century Florilegia were created to showcase the beauty and novelty of newly discovered plants. Today, the primary aims as a contemporary Florilegium, is conservation: to meticulously document the Living Plant Collection at Chelsea Physic Garden through painting and drawing, to educate and to raise awareness of this art form through the varied use of archive images.