When I received the haiku, it was still early in the year, and the roses were still in bloom. I was lucky to be able to wander around the garden and take lots of pictures of the beautiful flowers.

I enjoy using design elements in my work, so the poster started out almost as a surface pattern design, with all these roses interacting. I wanted to put in as many full-bloom roses—jewels, like the poem said—as possible, while still making it look clean and crisp.

Originally, the background was white, but black made the roses look brighter—popped them out. I put the bees in because I liked playing with the idea that bees are also the tenders of these jewels.