Love Flourishes Forever First Class Postage Stamps

Love Flourishes was issued in January 2018 in Phoenix and belongs to the Love series, which the Postal Service has been adding to for decades. Anna Bond hand-painted the original in gouache: a garden of stylized roses, peonies and dahlias in pink, coral and yellow, with pale blue-green berries and gold leaves, wrapped around the word Love in cursive. Greg Breeding was the art director. The palette is retro without being fussy, which is why it has aged better than most Valentine's issues.

Weddings are the obvious use - invitations, save-the-dates, RSVP envelopes, the thank-you notes afterwards - and it is what people reach for in early February. It holds up year-round for anniversary cards and any letter where a flag would feel cold. A pane of 20 is roughly one small invitation list. Forever means it covers a one-ounce letter at the current 82¢ rate; a full invitation suite usually weighs more than an ounce, so weigh one before you commit to a sheet.