Not just the English, but the whole British race are renowned for their love of gardens. During the spring and summer months there are flower shows in most towns and cities, and many villages throughout the length and breadth of Britain.. The British are addicted to gardens and gardening – it is their way of life.
We have tried to make this card appealing to both children and adults alike. All of the plants and garden characters illustrated within the kit have been created from our own artist’s accurate drawings and paintings. In some cases the scale has been altered to fit in with the overall composition of the card. The kit provides composition choices, and there are options in deciding which piece goes where on the card. The card is very easy to assemble and the die-cut shapes and accurate fold lines ensure a successful outcome.
Plants Featured in the Pop-up Kit
The Gentian, or Gentiana. The genus Gentiana is vast with many variations widely scattered across many parts of the world. Some species, such as Gentiana Pumila, are only 2 ins high, while others, such as Gentiana Lutea, reach a height of 4 ft. The dominant colour of the flowers is the famous gentian blue. The one used in the kit is a beautiful deep blue flower, this variety is called Gentiana Sepemfida, or Trumpet Gentian. It is a native to Asia and is one of the most spectacular of the species, yet one of the easiest to cultivate.
Chysanthemum Carinatum. The name Chysanthemum in Greek signifies “golden flower” with the botanist who named it having in mind the common yellow daisy Chrysanthemum Segetum, known as the corn marigold. In China, at the time of Confucius, about 500 B.C., chrysanthemums were widely cultivated and very popular, they were known as the flower of life. One thousand years later it became the national flower of Japan. Today, the flower varies from the simple variety shown in the kit, to hybrid varieties produced around the 1830’s, who’s numerous curved petals form large bulbous heads.
Tulipa, or Tulip. The tulip is one of the few popular flowers that has not been spoilt by commercial cultivation. It is a flower of oriental origin but has become associated with Holland in recent years. During the 17th century the tulip was so highly prized in the Netherlands that people would pay huge sums of money to own rare blooms. During the period 1634-1637, people abandoned jobs, businesses, and home to grow the noble tulip. In time the mania became a type of fanaticism; a story, reputedly true, tells of a man who had paid for a bulb with its weight in gold and then learned that a cobbler of Haarlem possessed the very same variety. Thereupon he bought it from the cobbler for 15,000 florins and, before the cobbler’s eyes, crushed it under his foot so that it would remain the only existing specimen. The tulip used in the kit is Tulipa Clusiana, it is a pale yellow as opposed to the classical white most commonly associated with this variety.
A Garden Fairy is seen standing in a clump of purple coloured Mesembryanyhemum Tricolor, also known as the Fig Marigold. Every garden has its own fairy, whether you see one or not depends on the strength of your belief.
Phlox Subulata. They say no garden should be without phlox of one sort or another. The pop-up variety is a native to North America and generally found in dry meadowlands. There are various forms, all cushion forming, hence its low lying form as a pop-up. A vermillion red Phlox Drumandii is the bloom illustrated on the back panel of the card, the orange-red colour making a striking contrast to the pale blue sky. This variety in also North American and mainly found in Texas.
Nemophila Menziesii is the beautiful blue flower flower on the base of the card. It is a dwarf plant with a dense dark-green foliage.
Bignonia Capreolata is the orange trumpeted flower shown on the back of the card. The plant gets its name from Abbé Paul Bignon (1662 – 1743) court librarian to Louis XV.
The Pack Contents
The country garden pack consists of three sheets of high quality card with die-cut sections and a base-card. It introduces children to stepped pop-ups and fold-ups. The kit includes full instructions to construct the card and a detailed history of pop-up cards. The size of the pop-up card when folded together is 110mm x 150mm which fits inside the leaf green C6 envelope provided.
