Vintage Flower Cigarette Cards

It seems quite incongruent, the combination of cigarettes and flowers, apart from the obvious exception of nicotiana.  I love collecting vintage flower and gardening cigarette cards.  This combines my passion for flowers, vintage and anything miniature.  I love the anatomically correct flower pictures, the information included on the back of the cards and how they are so of their time.  So today I thought I would share a few pictures from my collection of cards and include freshly picked and some dried flowers from the cutting garden.



Here are just a few Wills cigarette cards measuring 6cm x 8cm.

Beautiful Viscaria card.  I normally grow Linum in my garden but this year Viscaria has been much more reliable.

Who let the cat in?

Gorgeous dried Larkspur.

Advice from the past still relevant today... hmm, "Keep a watch for slugs among seedlings", have I ever this year!

Here are some tiny Godfrey Phillips Ltd, Flower Studies cards, they measure 5cm x 6cm.

You can almost hear the BBC RP voice reading this.

Now for the cards that really are of their time. Wills Garden Hints cards and only very smartly dressed gents were featured in these cards. I could do with a few of these gents to help out in my garden! Fabulous dress sense and not too afraid of hard work. 

Always ensure you wear your smartest hat and apron when constructing a dovecote.

Looks a little like chemical warfare.

Mind those brogues now!

My absolute gems: hand coloured Camera Studies from Cavanders Ltd.

Born and bred in Kent this one has to be my favourite, all the more for it's slightly off target hand colouring.

A little bit of Chaucer, which I believe translates, "Among the buds I choose one so fair".