Hello!
Has anyone ever grown flowers for a wedding around here? Have any tips? Im going to grow some flowers for for my sisters wedding on June 29th. She loves lime greens with saturated oranges, yellows, red, pinks. I think we should put a little dark blue too. I've never gardened with a deadline before! Here are some things i'm considering.
Delphinium - wild form
Geums
Alonsoa
papaver 'falling in love'
Bells of Ireland?
euphorbia?
Snapdragons
german catch fly 'red'
coreopsis tinctoria
cheirianthus x allionii
cosmos 'orange'
sunflower?
red sweet peas
anchusa azurea?
baby tomatillos
agrostemma
growing flowers for a wedding!
There are many variables based on each individual flower type. I probably would not risk doing it (myself). I would not end up with many flowers even though I thought of all circumstances that could go wrong and tried to prevent them. Here is a site I found that may help you.
http://www.growerdirect.com/flower-vase-life
greenthumb_NC
Karin
I'm gonna try anyways, we can always just buy flowers if it doesn't work out.
wow green..great site with alot of info that can be used for home use.
Wonder...got some ideas for you...
1) go to Amazon.com, put in used garden books. You will find an array of material that is new and used (ranging in price from .01- almost list if new but many new are EXTREMLY cheap and sell for less than $1, just have to pay for postage (usually $3.99)..There will probably be many books on growing wedding flowers to arranging wedding flowers, as many do it yourself types. If you find a do-it-yourself type, they will give schedules of when to sow such and such or do cutting back of certain plants to have flowers and how many weeks it should take to have flowers blooming at the optimal time..remember you will need to cut and have them conditioned for a day or maybe a few before use...believe I know cuz I've done it from my garden.... I didn't have proper notice and it was a last minute thing.. Better to cut and condition first...I did where they came out at 6am for a wedding late afternoon and I had a bunch of wilting going on. You should also find out if all the flowers you want can actually be used...
2) (I will comment on those that I grow) Delph. wild form....are you referring to Larkspur which is an annual? or D. grandiflora? If Larkspur I have seed if needed...
Geums... have never used in bouquets personally so can't answer tho I do grow them..
Papaver F. I. L. is it an annual or perenn? If perenn when is the normal bloom time in Ca.? If annual can control a bit better as to when available if you find one of those charts I referred to above. Also all poppies need special treatment, (match or burning the tips so no wilting).
Antirhinum..Snaps, can be easy to control bloom cycle like I say find a chart. The main thing to advise you on these is cut back the plant close to the ground (not at the ground but find a low node)...you want to accomplish branching for optimal use.. Personally I love the rocket series as they are the tallest (great for church bouquets and even the brides bouquet.)...and there is a newer variety out there called 'Royal Wedding' which is also fragrant (most aren't) and is 36" and white.
Coreopsis tinctoria...wonderful and blooms it's little head off most of the season, great in the vase too
Cosmos..not grown the orange but have grown the 'Sensation mix', smell great, light and sweet, great in the vase also, pinch them when they are young to get the best branching. Can seed into the garden and will bloom the whole summer if deadheaded and reseed too. Great vase life also.
Sunflowers..again find out scheldule for so time...ie. count 8 wks back from date needed or whatever time length..see why I say a chart from one of those bools will come in handy.
Lathrus...Sweet Peas..look for chart again and make sure to condition...hint..when they begin blooming cut old bloom asap to get production of the vine going... you don't want them to shrival on the vine and then start to produce seed as it takes away or slows done further pod development....Can get a large packet from Home Depot for a great price...most are fragrant also..
I grow anchusa personally am thinking they are mid summer, not sure about vase life tho......
A few suggestions...Plant some Ammi visagna or Ammi majus, both are annual and would make great filler, like a baby's breath. These can aslo be put into dye to change their color (white), light fragrance. They make bouquets look absolutely etheral . Or if you have perennial Babies Breath...
Zinnas are a great cut flower and come in a range of heights and flower sizes...they are easy...
Ok other ideas which I have also used...(I did my daughter's wedding flowers and had no garden at the time). We contacted a local wholesaler and bought direct...getting all the things she wanted (many will seel to the public but you need to find them before you need them...take the bride on a tour of their coolers, (they usually have no problem with this if they sell to the public)....Grocery stores can also be a great option, maybe not for all the flowers but some that might be needed at the last minutes because of failure or not enough material..If you go this route...talk to the florist in the grocery store and ask if they can help you with ideas.. Talk to them in advance they may need the required order time to make sure they are fresh for you and the prices are usually great.....
When I found out I would be doing my daughter's wedding flowers I located a class that taught Wedding Floral, it was several weeks and we got to make acutal arrangement and bridal bouquet and corsages.... this class was actually taught by a florist in her store.....am thinking it was listed in an adult education type newpaper, or could try your local community college for a short course....And it's great info....I had a blast ...it was sooo much fun.... I wish I had pix I could show you but I did a great job cuz I got some great info from experts... Practice making bouquets, corsages and floral arrangements with what you can find that on the cheap...it's experience..you don't want to wait til the last minute. Remember play and have fun!!!!!! But pratice it makes a difference!! The supplies can be bought at Micheals, get the floral tape, wires, corsage pins, foam flower bricks on sale when possible and begin playing...If you can ask the bride to put alittle bit toward the learning process it helps... and then show her what your doing and get feed back...
Also check out your local library and even goodwill for books on the subject, G.W. sells for $1-3 ish. Some libraries have a used book section also , usually 0.50-$2... or check out what they have on the shelf... Don't let me scare you off from trying...I just attempting to inform you...the earlier you begin the better prepared you will be....And it's extremly gratifying when it works!!!!!
Pix is a bouquet I made afewyears ago and was sold at an auction for charity. The vase was bought at a thrift store for $1, great place for used vases, they have tons and sooo many sizes (also they have sales quite often for 1/2 price)
The mums , Babies Breath and Alstoemeria were bought at the grocery store for a few $$$. From the garden: Asters (purple) (was made in early fall just a week before frost), Miscanthus grass spikes, Golden Hops vine (wrapped around the miscanthus), Origanum Kents Beauty.. so see what you can accomplish and have fun playing...remember that most of all..but if serious get organized and figure out what you can do and have time for...if not find it somewhere on the cheap! Hope that helps!!!! Good Luck,,,Kathy.
If what you grow doesn't cover it all, ordering from a grocery store is a good option. I used to help with MASSIVE flower arrangements for an organization every couple of months. By telling them the colors I wanted without being specify they could give me great deals on what ever was in season at the moment.
Also... slip a few good quality silk flowers in if you need to! I had an area where a "Black eyed Susan" would be perfect choice, I just added silk. With all the REAL flowers no one thought to think ALL wouldn't be REAL! Good luck and it will be an adventure! You might consider collecting bird baths, garden benches and other "country cottage" items to boost your decor. I used to have a lot of stuff borrowed from time to time for free decorations. Don't forget a section of picket fence!!!
Thanks you guys this is just what i wanted lots of ideas and references! I just went to the nursery and bought some Geums, and some sweet peas in 4'' and some delphiniums bellamosum and coreopsis tinctoria. So far Ive just been googling "how long does it take for cornflower to bloom?" or agrostemma, etc. but I'm not able to find a list or chart of book with everything listed. Oh well I'll just keep looking. I can find lots of "days to maturity" charts for edibles but not for the flowers!??!
like I say try google gadren books-used..... read description of the books listed and you just might find gold!!! lol.
Pix: my garden in June....
I grew the flowers for my daughter's wedding a few years ago. Timing the blooms is the most difficult part and even with a greenhouse weather conditions can throw you a curve. I had some hits and some misses and ended up buying all of the white roses from two area supermarkets because I could not coax enough simultaneous bloom from my own plants. Otherwise we came out fine, although a few of the Calla's were too late to use, we had enough. One thing that helped enormously was choosing some plants that had stunning foilage. I grew a few hundred Caladium bulbs in green and white. and pink and green and white. They were the prettiest part of the display. Individual pots of Caladiums in decorative wrapping and ribbons were the sole table arrangements. After the reception guests were invited to take those home. I also used variegated grasses as fillers for large arrangements of Shasta Daisies. The overall look was a slightly exotic twist on otherwise traditional selections and we got a lot of positive feedback.
Good luck! It will be beautiful.
I have a web site where you might be able to find some info. : Backyardgardener.com.
Did you google something like: 'From seed to bloom time', flowers. Gotta be something out there some where on the web....
thank you folks!
I did all of my own flower arrangements but used silk flowers. I just could not be bogged down with the anxiety of last minute fresh.
I use to grow cur flowers for sale in louisiana. The best help I got was from a book by Alan Armitage " Specialty Cut Flowers" I saw itcheap on amazon just this week. He does have timme to harvesting charts onsome of the flowers, how to grow to get best cutting stems . A
Marguerite sweet potato vine is a lovely chartreuse and very reliable in my zone 9 garden. It trails prettily too. Some of the things you have listed only bloom in early spring here, like delphinium or larkspur. June 29 is almost July. It's pretty hot here by then so early spring things would be gone by then. The grasses take a while to get going and to get enough, might be hard to do. For deep blue, I can think of Clematis which has several deep blue cultivars. Also there are some morning glories that have large deep blue blossoms and petunias but I dont think Petunias make very good cut flowers. If you want spikey flowers, black and blue salvia are a great deep blue and if you start now you could have lots by the wedding. This might be a good substitute for the delphinium.
For the hot pinks and oranges, I agree with Zinnias. They come in all sizes from buttons to large cactus flowered blooms and they produce a lot of flowers during the time you need flowers. I think the orange cosmos and the sun flowers would be in good production at that time of year. Hibiscus has large flowers in those colors but i dont know if you could get one producing enough flowers by then. Daylilies or Asiatic Lilies make some blooms in those hot colors but again, dont know if you have time to grow these. bougainvillea comes in hot colors but if you dont already have one, there is not enough time to grow one. Dahlias make large hot colored blooms. Im not sure how long they take to grow. Someone on here will know tho.
The sweet peas are also an early spring bloomer so they probably would be gone by the wedding and snapdragon is a cool season flower in my zone 9 garden. They are long gone by July.
This message was edited Feb 18, 2013 2:35 AM
Steadycam3, certainly what you are speaking of what makes "guessing" hard. I know there can easily be 2 weeks difference in the same location of when things bloom from year to year.
Hi,
Thanks everyone! The Armitage book is totally it!
I'm looking forward to hearing what you learn from it to apply to your project.
Oh me tooooo! Keep us updated as to what you're doing....
Thanks ginger for the advise on the Armitage book, I'm thinking I need to add that one to my library, have another of his and like it too....
A couple of boquets from the spring garden.
Very pretty Kathy. Last year's pictures?
yes, they were boquets I had made for garden club as I was the hostess that month....and Thanks..
June 29th is a little bit ahead of us yet,...however, now is the best time to make sure the seedlings are starting up!
Almost 4 months is perfect for Late Spring and early summer flowers it seems to me...
I wonder how many Brides have gone to the Alter with a bouquet of Gaillardia down here? (Could be pretty in a sunny state like Florida and native plants too!...................................It could..........Ha!
Seriously now,
The best of luck and wishing you success. Whatever beautiful flowers you have in your gardens at the time will be the best! If you need a few fill in's "What the heck"!
All the best on that day for you and yours!
David
Beautiful!
Do you want flowers to cut or pots or in ground to decorate?
So many bulbs or other plants do well in containers. We pot up callas and grow them in ground as well. They comes in great color varieties and are wonderful for cutting. Extremely popular for wedding bouquets. If they grow in your area, dahlias also have wonderful color varieties.
I think snapdragons must be the easiest to grow and produce blooms for a long time. As someone mentioned, sweet potato vine (ipomoea) has chartreuse as well as other colors and they come in a variety of shapes as well. Very easy to grow and vine.
If you are forced to go elsewhere, you might want to check out Costco online. They have very good prices and will deliver for the wedding date.
Another thing to remember is that some flowers need special treatment when they are cut. So they last in the arrangment. Stock is one of them. I can't remember exactly..but I had a friend that grew some beautiful flowers, made the arrangments and opened up the cooler the morning of the event and some of the flowers were wilted. Just make sure you know how to treat each flower once it is cut.
Thx for the feedback. I got the book in the mail about specialty cut flower growing. My mind is blown. Very cool book. It makes me want to try growing and selling. Super inspirational. it lists all the treatment options for all the different flowers and how to grow, spacing, weather to use a net, stake and list if flowers are short day or long day to help predict bloom time,how sensitive to ethylene gas the blooms are, wow! This is it. Wish I had this book years ago!
I'm going to ask for that book for my birthday! LOL.... I have another of his books and want this one too!!!
Can you EVER have enough books?? LOL
Who? ME?????? If you only knew...... LOL!!!!!!
This message was edited Mar 11, 2013 5:01 PM
; ) This is totally inspiring. Heres a few pix and a random bouquet, kinda funny but i like it. Warriorwisdom - would you happen to have a name of a book with a chart? I' just having no luck with that.
Oh my such pretty pix!!!!! Are those blooming now? And if so have you started playing with cutting and arranging? Remember, poppies need their tips either burned with a match (seared) or put in boiling water to seal, preventing wilt. And are those Agrostema (Corn Cockles) unopened in the 3rd pix? Just love your delphs. Just a note....if you cut back the Delphs, many times you can get a second set of blooms, but on much shorter stems.
Do you mean a chart for seed to cut? Thought you found one in Armitage's book, that's why I also want it..lol. Most of my books are about the plants themselves, not neccesarily production.
Pix: Cosmos are great in arrangements to and have a light sweet smell.
WOW, I have not seen a purple cosmos, that is COOL!!
The armitage book has great info on growing them but no charts. It lists if a plant is stimulated to grow because it reaches a certain size, or temperature, or length of day, how closely to plant and what different planting widths will result in. Can the plants support each other if planted thickly or can you use one one layer of netting or two for support, how to treat all the different varieties, are they ethylene sensitive, what and why certain solutions are used. Great info, but sadly not a straight up chart.
Gosh...thought it would have info...am thinking there was another book on Amazon that did, you may have to look there again. Sorry am in the middle of projects at the moment..building another seed starting stand and got sooooooo many babies to pot. If I think about it when I'm staying with the grandkids today, I will look. (If I can get to the computer...lol, you know kids).
Psych..not sure that I have any seed left at the moment..but come summer remind me I will harvest some for you... And they are more toward red-wine color than a blue-purple, but gorgeous they are. I let many reseed, not sure where I got the origonal other than out of a packet..lol. (I don't remember the name..sorry).
thanks, that would be nice of you!
Are those hybrids? I haven't seen that color either.
I don't remember what they are to be quite honest, but I must have..... Origonally I started Sensation mix and threw in some of the doubles and gosh who knows what else... I'll have to take a look at Thompson& Morgan Seeds and see if there's anything that's even close. It was odd cuz they were next to the path, just where they shouldn't be because of height.
Everything I grow is just where it shouldn't be, or so it seems. Lol wonder if the seeds will come true? I guess they'll come true to something.
Oh my...you haven't experienced reseeding yet...just lovely when it begins with the flowers.. Here are some of my favorites..Kinda interesting to see what pops up where. Nope, looked up Thompson &Morgan , they don't have and also Select Seeds, they don't have either but one similar but more light pink but I never got any of those. Only one I can think I mixed in with the regular Sensation was the Cosmo Collerette type, which is white with a bit of light pink edging. Now these...hmmmm, may have to claim as my own...lol..Hey Thompson-Morgan, got a newbie for ya... Will see what they look like this year as it will be their second season.
#3, Hesperis matronalis, soo fragrant
#1 &4, Johnny-Jump-ups
#2 Johnny-jump-ups, both of the pix just started with tricolor and they are breeding like Rabbits! All sorts of new colors just from the traditional tri-color, have thousands of baby jjs and still throwing seed for more.
#5 started out (origonal seed from just a dark center ring) to these lovely a few years later and more than a hundred feet from the origonal patch. (Rudbeckia).
How are the flowers doing? Making decisions and progress I hope!
Well, the anemone coronaria is already starting to bloom : ( and the geums are really blooming so I hope they bloom as long as they say they will. The viscaria, snap dragons, zinnias, larkspur, bells of irland all have one set of true leaves, transplanting every couple days, so this is hopeful. Roses are just about to peak. I'm wondering about their rebloom and if I can try to time it by cutting the blooms at a certain time. anybody know how long between flushes with About Face? Some of the sweet peas are budding but some are not. Over all I think things are going good as far as timing goes. Dahlia are all up about 4-10" except this mutant white cactus style that is budding already!?!?? Scabiosa Caucasica blooming wimpy with one half the flower missing all the petals, lame. I'm trying to decid when to cut back the Linaria Flamenco and how hard. I'm guessing one month before but maybe I should do it now also? Trachelium isn't showing any buds but it always fools me with how long it looks like its about to start budding but doesn't. Mina lobata is up with four true leaves, maybe I'll have these. I just have a little of each plant. I'm trying to increase my chances of timing something right. So that's it!
SEEE???? hehehe... that is why YOU are doing this and NOT me!!! I'd be a nervous wreck! I am clueless but I would guess it would take longer than a month to rebloom!