Perennials you Can Grow for your Wedding, Part I
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Planted by: Jennifer Tidwell
Date: Wednesday April 14, 2010
Planted in: Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers,Wedding Flowers
As a continuation of the Grow Your Own Wedding Flowers series, I’ve made a list of perennials and bulb grown flowers that will do well as cut flowers. This is not an all inclusive list, but does contain some of the more popular wedding flowers. Please keep in mind that perennials are long-term plantings and take at least one year to get from seed to flower. If you have a limited amount of time, or don’t want to grow perennials from seed, I recommend buying gallon-sized or larger plants from your local garden center. If you have a friend who gardens and will do you a favor, ask if you can tend a portion of their perennials or plant a small bed. The good news is these plants will come back year after year and get bigger as time goes on.
The best time to plant perennials is early to late fall, after the searing heat of summer and before the first frost in your area. This gives them time to settle in and establish roots before winter. If you plant larger plants (gallon or bigger) you will have some blooms the following summer. If you are planting bulbs (tulips, lilies, daffodils, etc.) you may need quite a few to have enough for bouquets and reception decorations.
Here is a short list of bulb-grown flowering plants that will do well as cut flowers:
Calla Lilies – (only perennial in some areas) Available in pure creamy white and many shades of pink, yellow orange and red, calla lilies are probably one of the most popular wedding flowers. Calla lilies are planted in the spring and bloom until the weather gets too hot. If you live in Zone 8 and up, you can plant these and they will perennialize. In other Zones they should be dug up and stored over the winter. From a completely anecdotal standpoint, I am in 7B and mine come back like champs every year.
Tulips – Blooming from early to late spring and available in several different types of bloom (single, double, parrot, lily flowered), tulips are a very popular cut flower for weddings. Tulips are available in almost every color of the rainbow, and are easy to plant. For cut flowers you will want to get taller varieties (at least 16″ tall). Planted in the fall, tulips require a period of cold to flower in the spring. If you live in a warmer area, look for pre-chilled bulbs. Tulips are not going to perennialize well in warmer areas either, but Darwin Hybrids do better than others.
Daffodils – As one of the first signs of spring, daffodils are a cheery addition to your bridal bouquet. Also planted in the fall, many types of daffodils will naturalize and form bigger clumps each year. Daffodils secrete a chemical that can cause other flowers to die if held in the same water, so put them in their own container and change the water a few times before adding any other flowers.
Lilies (Lilium) – Asiatic, oriental, trumpet lilies and all the hybrids in between make striking bridal flowers. Just a few stems will be all you need for a beautiful bouquet. Planted in the fall or spring, lilies normally bloom in the summer. If you have a mid to late summer wedding, lilies are the perfect flower.
Ranunculus – Ranunculus has become a popular replacement for roses and peonies because they are easy to grow, bloom over a long period of time, and the flowers have a similar shape and fullness to roses and peonies. Grown from claw-shaped tubers, ranunculus are perennials in Zones 8-11.
Stay tuned for Part II.
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