Pansies for Springtime Weddings

I have always been enamored with the idea of adding pansies to wedding designs. One of the main reasons is because they are so unexpected, yet so lovely for garden-inspired designs. They are some of the first heralds of spring in our area, and always seem so cheery. There's nothing like picking a few and breathing in their delicate fragrance! Last year I met a bride who was also enamored by pansies. Kate wanted garden flowers in rich violets, purples, and lavender-blue. So included with the Chinese Forget Me Not, the hellebore, euphorbia, and spikes of catmint were... pansies.

Just as their sweet faces can light up the garden, so they can also light up garden-inspired wedding designs!

Locally Grown Flowers for a Springtime Wedding

Last May I had the pleasure of meeting with Bridget and Chris at an Open House at The Shady Wagon Farm. They were looking forward to a 2015 springtime wedding, and Bridget had her heart set on a garden/wildflower look for the wedding flowers.

That meeting led to some beautiful floral creations last weekend! I was so excited to be working with a couple that loved the look of garden style flowers, and I loved the opportunity to grow many of the flowers for them!

The garden beds at Springwell Gardens are really starting to wind up by mid May, and there were lots of flowers blooming that fit the soft pinks, creams and green color palette. 

Some of the flowers that were grown on site for their wedding were Chantilly snapdragons, poppies, cosmos,  Chinese Forget Me Not, and nigella blooms. I was hopeful there would be ranunculus, but the plants finished up too early. Thankfully the white anemones with black eyes  continued to hang in there!

Peach foxglove delivered some beautiful stems, and there were quite a few peonies that became part of the designs at the last minute.

I was excited to see Bridget when I delivered the flowers a few hours before the wedding. It was great to see her smile and hear her delighted approval!

I am so happy for you both as you begin this wonderful life together, and I look forward to you dropping by sometime to learn how to grow some of these beauties in your own garden some day!

Locally Grown Wedding Flowers for May

May ushers in a whole new set of wedding flowers at Springwell Gardens. There are beds of poppies Chantilly snapdragons, and Chinese Forget-Me-Not that started up in April, but are 

really getting underway now that May is here. New to the gardens are cosmos- I am growing the Double Click and Sensations Mix varieties. And a Nelly Moser Clematis vine is in its second year.

These lavender-pink blooms should be ready for bridal bouquets starting in May 2016.

Other locally grown flowers that are on the verge of blooming are Love-in-a-Mist, pastel and yellow yarrow, Rose Campion, catmint, zinnias and more. They will start making appearances in some lovely weddings over the next few weeks!

Blue Forget-Me-Nots for Spring Weddings

Now is the time to start sowing more cool season annuals for spring and early summer weddings. And a favorite for blue flowers is Chinese Forget-Me-Not or cynoglossum.

This will be the third year of growing them at Springwell Gardens, and I am finally getting a lot of the kinks worked out. One of my biggest problems has been germination. I have worked with two different types- Chill Out which is a white and blue mix, and Blue Showers which is a taller variety with uniform blue flowers. The germination rate with Blue Showers has been excellent, and there should be an abundance of plants this year.

While the flowers are dainty, they make a big statement in design work. Last year I used them only sparingly since most of my wedding work did not include blue.

But this spring I will be using them in several weddings in May and June, as well as offering extra plants for sale to folks interested in including them in a spring cutting garden.

Plants from an earlier sowing are already plumping up and some even have buds. I hope to have cynoglossum blooming from March through mid June!

Blue Flowers for Late Spring and Early Summer Weddings

Spring always slips into summer a little too quickly... It's part of living in the South I guess. While I love summer flowers, I hate to see spring flowers go.
Yesterday I pulled the Chinese Forget-Me-Not out of the garden beds. It was hard, but I need that space for other flowers. This is the second year of growing these incredibly blue flowers. I love everything about them, except they can't take the heat!

Chinese Forget-Me-Not (cynoglossum) add a vivid touch of blue to wedding flowers which looks amazing with yellows like these roses, poppies and ranunculus above. It can also make a statement with a softer color palette as in the bouquet below that include white anemones, Sahara roses, silvery lamb's ear and lavender stock

 And it's lovely nestled in with pinks and peaches too.

Seed should be started in the fall, (I was late), and plants can be overwintered in the garden beds.

This fall I plan to get it started on time, and I will make sure that I have a nice area in the garden beds too. Kate is getting married next May, and she just might want to use it in her bouquet!

Chinese Forget-Me-Nots for Late Spring and Early Summer Wedding Bouquets

The Chinese Forget-Me-Not bloomed and were gone before I hardly had a chance to work with them last year.

2013 was my first year for growing them, and because of poor germination, I only had a few plants. Also the lovely cornflower blue just wasn't in the color palette of any of my  May and June weddings.
But I was smitten with them and did manage to tuck them into a centerpiece design with poppies. 

These are actually Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, or cynoglossum. I first learned of them through Floret Flower Farm, in fact, there is a great blogpost by Erin about growing them from January 25, 2014.

My seeds were started earlier this month, and  the seedlings are emerging. Germination has been better this year, and 

I am hopeful to have them again for May and June. I am growing the blue and white varieties, and will make sure that I work them into a few floral arrangements even if I don't need them for weddings!

They are so enchanting- in the garden and definitely in wedding bouquets and designs!