Garden Wedding - Plants
I am getting married on August Bank Holiday, and we are going to be having our marriage ceremony and reception in our cottage garden. We both love being in the garden, and the idea of getting the garden perfect in prepartation for this event is appealing to both of us - although we are not expert gardners! As this is late summer I am wondering what plants to grow from seed that are likely to be in bloom. I am going to stagger the planting to be on the safe side, but I would love some advice on what is likely to be looking fabulous at the time of year. I love plants that smell nice like chamomile and lavender, and the colours blue, purple, yellow and white would be preferred. Can anyone advise me? Any feedback much appreciated.
0
Posts
Sarah Raven do seeds for cutting flowers, you might be able to get feed back from them for growing times
Thanks Fleurisa - I just looked at the website, great information for beginners. Edd, sweet peas are a must!
My daughter got married in our garden last year, at the end of July, and we did (most of) the flowers ourselves. It was great fun, although it made me realise how much you are at the mercy of the weather (it was at the end of that long heatwave, and everything had gone over much quicker than planned). My suggestions would be:
- Flowers: cosmos were lovely and very easy to grow; sweetpeas (although they suffered from the heat); dahlias were in their prime; and also alchemilla mollis - it was fanTAStic. Lavender was great too (although not to be bought from seed, you'd need well-grown plants). Schizostylis (I don't think I've spelled that right) were great too.
- For any annuals, be ready to dead-head like crazy in the months running up to the wedding - so everything is in maximum bloom on the day (this is more important than sowing at the right time)
- Have a back up plan just in case everything goes wrong - you can't rely on nature, and you don't want your day to be spoiled by disappointment! So think about some big pots (borrow or steal?) which could hold some instantly-bought plants to fill gaps if something really doesn't work!
Hope it goes fabulously well for you - ENJOY!!!
How exciting! First of all congratulations and best wishes for the big day.
My niece was married late summer last year, she had gorgeous hydrangeas in her posy, really effectively simple.
I'm sure you will find plenty of flowers to go at, keep a theme in mind though to avoid 'clutter' because you will love everything you grow and want to include all of it!! Don't forget to plan the foliage as well. Definitely have a contingency plan as Rosie31 says, plants and mother nature will decide what is in flower when (unless you are an expert and able to give extra help!).
Enjoy and keep us informed how you get on, it would be great to share this part of your journey and hopefully see some photos posted of the results.
Congratulations,
Cleome, pelargoniums, streptocarpus, cerinthe major all flower from July through till september. Don't forget the perennials, many of which will flower well into September and until the first frosts.
A back drop of perennials with bedding in front and in any gaps will give you a wide range to choose from.
Good luck ! As Rosie and Dave Morgan say above - don't worry if you can't grow everything from seed. Plants can be bought quite cheaply from garden centres for an instant display to fill any gaps. Would suggest Anthemis punctata - the 'Daisy Plant' widely available, white looks great but you can get other colours too
I once did a whole pathway of them for a wedding in pots with just a few blue annuals in as well
Congratulations! I am in the process of growing the flowers for my daughter's wedding in mid July. We are having the reception in the garden so no worries about transporting! Calendula, Cornflowers, Nigella, Bupleurum. All easy to grow. Foxgloves, Snapdragon Royal Bride and Delphiniums for bunches of flowers in hessian wrapped buckets. Alchemilla Mollis, Gypsophilla, Ammi Visnaga and Major for fillers and absolutely not forgetting Sweetpeas! I am going to have a try at growing Gerberas but my back up plan is Morrisons - I didn't realise you could order and they are amazing value for gyp and gerberas. Have fun !
Good luck..August can be tricky as many of the cottage garden plants and traditional annuals are past their best. We were lucky with a wedding in 2012 as it had been wet most of the spring and early summer. You can use the first delphinium blooms for confetti then cut them right to the ground for a second show in august. Phlox can be held back by taking down a third in late spring. For garden reliables try antirrhinums, cosmos, veronicas all in white and blues. Geraniums are wonderful value if you buy mostly small plants to grow on with a few showstopping big ones for impact. And the very sweetly vanilla scented nemesia...brilliant compact bloomer.
Check out Flowers from the Farm website, it has British flower growers all over the country, they can help supply you with flowers or give advice. They are all passionate about British flowers. http://flowersfromthefarm.co.uk
we got married in Aug 2011 and I grew 400 sweet peas on our allotment to use on the tables. We used cheap high ball tumbler type glasses, wrapped them in lilac crepe paper and tied with a bow of green raffia. Not only did the tables look stunning, but the marquee smelt amazing. ( even if I did have to get up at 6am to pick them fresh.)
Have a fabulous day.