Gardenias for White Bouquets

June is the month for fragrant blooms in the garden, and one of my favorites is gardenia. These huge creamy white flowers exude a rich scent that greets you each time you step outside.  

Gardenias are a very short lived cut flower though, with a vase life of just one to two days. But it is enough for a wedding bouquet. And the fragrance will make your heart sing!
For this particular bouquet, I have left the gardenias on their own stems instead of wiring them since they were being paired with other garden flowers.

 Those flowers include other whites and ivories that are blooming now such as foxglove, feverfew, zinnias and calla lilies.

Zinnia Bouquets in Peach and Coral and Lavender and Plum

Spring lingered a little longer than usual this year, but with the typical humidity of the Deep South streaming in over these last couple of weeks, I think it has finally given way to summer.

This is a transition time in the flower garden. Snapdragons, Feverfew, Yarrow and Queen Ann's Lace are some late spring bloomers that will persist through June. Zinnias, gomphrena, and celosia are just starting up and will crank out blooms through frost. Dahlias are also starting up as well, but won't hit their stride until fall.

So as the weather heats up, I thought it would be a great time to work up some bouquets with summer offerings.

Open-face Chantilly snapdragons and zinnias in soft yellows, peach, salmon and pink are paired with white feverfew and Queen Ann's Lace. It's a very popular color palette this year!

The next bouquet features hydrangea, clematis, zinnia, marble arch salvia, chocolate cosmos and catmint in lavender, purple, plum, and pink with touches of white double flowered feverfew.

The best part of all is having my daughter, Judy, agree to help me out, and hold the bouquets for me. I tell her it's good practice...

She just laughs!

Peach and Coral Poppies and White Peonies for May Weddings

This is the second year for poppies at Springwell Gardens. They have been blooming since late April in delicate hues of pale yellow, salmon-coral, peach and light pink. Their beauty is fleeting... As May gives way to June, their bloom season appears to be over.

They made an appearance in Taylor and Grant's reception centerpiece designs and also in her bouquet.
Here they are paired with white peonies from the garden (also a May bloomer), wild grasses, Chantilly snapdragons and yellow flower stems from kale.

 Yes, May is their month to bloom. Seeds were sown last fall, and the seedlings were given some winter protection in one of the caterpillar tunnels.
Since they are not fond of heat, I plan to give them a spot with some more afternoon shade next year. Hopefully I will be able to coax them to linger a little bit into June. It would be great to offer them to both May and June brides next year!