Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Gathering Cowslips, 1872

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moonè’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
― William Shakespeare, Fairy Land I
A vintage outdoor illustration from 1872 showing two little girls gathering cowslips (Primula veris) in the forest. In Shakespeare's time, cowslips were often associated with fairies and magic. These “faerie cups” were believed to have the ability to lead unsuspecting wanderers down paths of adventure, mischief, and hidden treasure.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Photo credit: Wikipedia
In 19th century England, the yellow blooms of the common cowslip was widely held to signify “winning grace” and “comeliness.” In the Victorian language of flowers, the cowslip symbolized youth, rusticity, pensiveness, and healing.

You can download the vintage illustration as a free 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


Vintage illustration is from my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Flower Illustrations for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: A Trio of Yellow Orchids, 1909

To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Here is a trio of botanical illustrations from 1909 featuring beautiful yellow orchids. Download and print for wall art or to use in various altered art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects. You can find the free high-res 5" x 7" @ 300 ppi JPEG of the first yellow orchid (see preview image above) without a watermark here.

You can find the free high-res 5" x 7" @ 300 ppi JPEG of the second yellow orchid without a watermark here.

You can download the free high-res 5" x 7" @ 300 ppi JPEG of the third yellow orchid without a watermark here.


For non-commercial use only. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Flower Illustrations for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Two Varieties of Begonias, 1900

She wanted something else, something different, something more. Passion and romance, perhaps, or maybe quiet conversations in candlelit rooms, or perhaps something as simple as not being second.
— Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
A pair of black and white vintage botanical illustrations from 1900. These two flower drawings feature very old varieties of begonias. The first, Begonia 'Gloire de Lorraine' was first bred in 1891 in France. Since 1940, this hybrid has been classified as Begonia x сheimantha. You can read a short article of this flower in a December 1, 1900 issue of American Gardening here.

The second drawing is of the Begonia 'Gloire de Sceaux,' which is an even older variety that was first bred in 1883. It is described in various vintage catalogs as "One of the finest flowering Begonias introduced for many years..." and as "Perhaps one of the most valuable additions in later years..." The plant is supposed to be a prolific bloomer in winter months with soft silky pink flowerrs that contrast well with its dark, bronzy plum foliage that posseses a rich, metallic lustre.

You can download these botanical clipart as a free 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Garden Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: In the Conservatory, 1872

Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable,
and you are worth the effort.
― Deborah Day
An antique illustration from 1872 showing two ladies in the conservatory, tending to their large collection of plants.

You can download this free high-res 6" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbookingprojects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Garden Clipart for Collage, Papercrafts, Scrapbooking or Wall Art: Conversations in the Garden 4

I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice;
had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.
― Edna St. Vincent Millay
An antique illustration from 1872 showing a scene from the garden. Two ladies are having an earnest conversation under a vine-covered arbor. The young woman on the right seems to be thinking deeply about the information imparted to her by the lady who is seated on the left.

You can download this free high-res 6" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, papercrafts, scrapbooking or DIY wall art projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Flower Illustrations for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Fall Chrysanthemums (Set 1)

"You're beautiful and sad," I said finally, not looking at him when I did.
"Just like your eyes. You're like a song that I heard when I was a little kid
but forgot I knew until I heard it again."
For a long moment there was only the whirring sound of the tires on the road,
and then Sam said softly, "Thank you."
— Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver
A pair of black and white vintage flower illustrations from 1897. The drawing on the left is of a bouquet of pompone chrysanthemums and the drawing on the right shows a type of anemone-flowered pompone chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums, often affectionately called mums for short, are a popular autumn flower in North America and you can see an abundance of these blooms for sale in many stores come September. They are grown in a variety of bright and cheerful colours and are a welcome sight when the weather turns cold and dreary.

You can download these botanical clipart as a free 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Garden Clipart for Collage, Papercrafts, Scrapbooking or Wall Art: Conversations in the Garden 3

It was they who taught me that a conversation even between strangers
could be a gift and a sport of sorts, a chance for warmth, banter, blessings, humor,
that spoken words could be a little fire at which you warmed yourself.
― Rebecca Solnit, Recollections of My Nonexistence: A Memoirn
An antique illustration from 1867 showing a scene from the garden. A lady with her daughter has come to visit a friend or relative in her garden. They seem to have interrupted the lady of the house in the middle of arranging a bouquet of flowers (peach-coloured roses or poppies, perhaps) in a vase.

You can download this free high-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, papercrafts, scrapbooking or DIY wall art projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

My Photo Journal: Morning Light at Lakeview Park

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy.
If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem.
But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world
and a desire to enjoy the world.
This makes it hard to plan the day.
— E.B. White

A crisp and brilliant morning at Lakeview Park in Oshawa. This is one of our favourite parks to walk in with the dog; it has lots of paved paths from which you can see and hear the water of Lake Ontario. Easily one of the most popular and accessible parks in the city.

All photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Trees at Orono Crown Lands

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Perfect weather for a nature walk through the Orono Crown Lands; the day was bright and sunny with just enough wind to keep the walk from getting unpleasantly hot. We took the Purple and Pink Loops today which meant we didn't get to walk beside Wilmot Creek. If possible, we aim to try the Red or Orange Loops next weekend as the path along the water can be very pretty.

All photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.