A Year in Bloom: Creating My First Birth Flower Calendar

Calendars felt like something other people made. The logistics of timing, the commitment to twelve cohesive designs, the leap from creating individual prints to something people would use every single day throughout an entire year—it seemed both utterly practical and slightly overwhelming in equal measure.

My birth flower linocut collection began as notecards—individual celebrations of each month's bloom, hand-carved and printed in my Norfolk studio. A popular collection, loved by many. They're sent for birthdays, used to mark special occasions and even kept as small pieces of seasonal art.

The calendar felt like a natural extension of that collection, but it required different thinking. Individual cards can stand alone; calendar pages need to work as a cohesive whole whilst each maintaining its own character. The artwork needed to translate to a larger format, and I wanted each month to offer more than just a pretty picture and a grid of dates.

The Joy of Getting It Right

Those who've followed my work will appreciate this particular milestone—for once, I'm not scrambling to get seasonal products out just as the season ends. Having 2026 calendars ready in September 2025 feels like a significant shift in how I approach the seasonal rhythm of making.

Usually I'm chasing deadlines and wishing I'd started earlier. This time, careful planning created space for better work and less stress. The calendars are printed on beautiful thick recycled paper—350gsm covers and 160gsm monthly pages—spiral bound with a sturdy hanging hook. They're A4 portrait format, substantial enough to make a statement whilst remaining practical for daily use.

Why Birth Flowers Matter

Working on this calendar has deepened my appreciation for the birth flower tradition. In our fast-paced, digitally-driven world, there's something grounding about connecting to these seasonal markers that have meaning beyond mere decoration.

Birth flowers remind us that we're part of natural cycles, that beauty unfolds throughout the year in predictable yet always surprising ways, that each season brings its own gifts. They connect us to the earth's rhythm and to generations of people who observed, celebrated, and found meaning in the flowers that marked their time.

Looking Forward

Whether "A Year in Bloom" becomes an annual tradition or remains a beautiful one-off experiment, I'm proud of what it represents—both as finished work and as evidence of growing confidence in following creative instincts wherever they lead.

The response has been encouraging. People understand what this calendar offers beyond simple date-tracking: it's functional art, seasonal inspiration, a daily reminder to pause and appreciate the particular character of each month.

A Year in Bloom 2026 is available now as a limited first edition. Each A4 wall calendar features hand-carved linocut birth flower artwork, seasonal reflections, UK holidays guide, and birth flower reference page. Printed on premium recycled paper, spiral bound with hanging hook. £14 each.