Dregs of winter laying your spirits low? Would the thought of colourful lotuses gently bobbing on warm breezes over the water’s surface help? Our annual flower stamp issue depicts two lotus species: the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and the American lotus (Nelumbo lutea).

The pink and white sacred lotus is the national flower of India, and has religious significance for Buddhists and Hindus. It is cultivated in North America and can become wild. Our only indigenous lotus, the rare and threatened yellow American lotus grows along the warm sunny shores of lakes Erie and St. Clair in southern Ontario.

Stamp designers Gary Beelik and Kristine Do of Parcel used watercolour portraits by Eunike Nugroho to depict different bloom phases in a set of connected (se-tenant) stamps. The blue background evokes a watery habitat, while a spot gloss varnish reveals a Chinese Bulbul bird, a koi fish and a dragonfly – creatures that share surroundings with lotuses.