Growing your own wedding flowers
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Planted by: Jennifer Tidwell
Date: Wednesday November 18, 2009
Planted in: Garden Planning,Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers,Wedding Flowers
As a spinoff from Green Weddings, I decided to offer some advice about growing your own wedding flowers. After you decide on a date, do some research about what will be blooming in your area during the month of your wedding. Growing your own flowers does require some flexibility, as you are at the mercy of Mother Nature and will have to cut whatever is blooming a few days before your wedding.
If you want to grow flowers from bulbs, you will need to order and plant them the fall or spring prior your wedding, depending on what type you are growing. If you can plant them a couple of years in advance, even better. Some bulbs perform better in their first year and don’t do as well in subsequent years (such as tulips) however.
Annuals (flowers that grow from seed and make flowers the first year) grow quickly and can be direct sown or set out every couple of weeks starting in late spring or early summer. If you have a late spring wedding, you can also buy plugs or starts and set them out. If you are really ambitious, you can start your seeds indoors 8 weeks before the last frost in your area and have them ready to go even earlier.
Perennials are what I consider “permanent” plantings and take at least one year to flower when planted from seed. If you can find gallon size perennials at your garden center the fall before your wedding you will probably have some flowers the following summer. Perennials really reach their peak after 3-4 years and will need to be divided and redistributed in your garden after that.
If you already have an established flower garden, chances are you will have something available for cutting around the time of your wedding. I recommend reading the following books for growing and using cut flowers. Although several are geared toward the commercial grower, there is a wealth of information about which flowers work well as cuts and which don’t. The biggest issue you will have to tackle is post-harvest care. You will need to properly cut, condition, and store your flowers until you can arrange and transport them to the venue.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Perennials you Can Grow for your Wedding, Part I
- Deciding what to grow
- Gardening Goals for 2010
- Spring Color Trends
- Garden Bed Preparation
2 Comments
I used all silk in my wedding because I couldn’t afford to use a florist and lived in an apartment with nowhere to grow flowers. If you want real flowers and have the space to grow them I highly recommend it.
Comment by Jennifer Tidwell on December 2nd, 2009 @
8:00 am
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As someone who almost had a silk flower bouquet (mom nixed it at the end but my bms carried them) I am all for silk flowers. You have a great tip in that you should really shop around for them.