And so to our final clue, the "honeysuckle". And that is one of the birth flowers for June. This plant either comes as a bush or as a vine, though the bushes do get a bit straggly and it can be harder to see the flowers amidst the tangles. There is also a theory that encouraging the vines to climb make for stronger flowers, and also, in warmer climates, a better quality of nectar, which is why they are so sought after by humming birds.
There are almost two hundred varieties of honeysuckle, so you are sure to find one which will suit your needs, though the Japanese variety is considered to be too invasive for gardens - and to stop you buying it by mistake, this, like the Camellia we featured recently, is called Japonica.
Now this set is one of the ones which was issued with both "Grandee" and "Doncella" cigars. The "Doncella" brand started issuing cards before the "Grandee", producing the "Golden Age" sets in the mid 1970s, starting with "Golden Age of Motoring" in 1975, and closing what was quite a gap in production, of about forty years, this stoppage being due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
The first "Grandee" set is often said to be the 1977 untitled set which is either known as "Limericks" or as "Limerick Competition". It had a folder, not an album, which opened out to 172 x 50 m/m, and there were just seven cards to collect. It ran until the end of January 1978. I have seen them, but cannot find one in the time I have.
However this was actually not their first set, as in 1976 they had issued a set of six folders called "World Of Gardening", which opened out by flipping from 90 x 50 m/m to 180 x 50 m/m. The front of these look like a card, for they are a large picture with white borders, whilst inside was the entry form and instructions on the left hand side and a list of prizes on the right - ten super greenhouses, fifty sets of stainless steel gardening tools, and a thousand rose bushes, intriguingly called "The Grandee Rose" and bred by Harry Wheatcroft. Now I cannot find this rose anywhere, but freely admit my list of flower sources is very slim. However if anyone out there can track it down it would be fun. And I have to say I quite like this set, so if anyone has one that they would like to scan all four sides of I am pretty sure I will be able to feature it as either a card of the day or in the diary dates. By the way, there was no album, maybe because the point of the set was just to enter the contest and be discarded. And the competition closed in November 1976.
Both these sets are very different to our featured card.
The first set similar to ours in size, format, and appearance was not issued until 1979, and it was called the "Grandee Top Dogs Collection".
All these sets were issued way too late for our original World Tobacco Issues Index, so ours is only described in our updated version, where it is catalogued under a heading of : "Grandee" Series. Md. 89 x 52. Later series similar to "Doncella" issues. Special albums issued."
However the description of the set is less expansive, just "BRITAIN`S WILD FLOWERS. Nd. (30)"
I did say that I may be able to find the original "New Issues Report" on either this set, or failing that the "Doncella" version, which was also issued in 1986, just in time for the newsletter, so watch this space.
And here we are, slightly later than I planned.