Perilla Adds Rich Dark Notes to Wedding Flowers

Looking for a unique accent for your wedding flowers? Check out perilla!

It is a staple in the flower borders at Springwell Gardens from June through October, and the frilly leaves add rich hues that vary from almost irridescent ebony to chocolate-burgundy that complement both blush and jewel tone floral palettes. 

In late September the plant is covered with pink flower spikes that quickly turn to green. These add great texture to autumn designs, and can later provide you with seeds for plants of your own. 

Feverfew Adds Charm to Wedding Bouquets

The first time I saw feverfew in a garden magazine (many years ago), I fell in love with its dainty appearance, and quickly found a place for it in my garden beds. Now I enjoy offering it to my brides who want the look of a wildflower bouquet for their wedding designs.

Feverfew usually starts blooming in the garden borders at Springwell by mid May, and continues through late June. 

It pairs well with garden blooms such as cosmos and zinnias, and traditional wedding flowers such as roses. 

Feverfew is also easy to grow. The single flower form will readily self seed, so I always have plenty of plants each year. And it's a great starter plant for brides who would like to later grow their own flowers!

Dahlia! A Most Lovely Wedding Flower!!!

Spring is finally underway! And while I am watching for spring flowers, I am also getting ready for summer and fall. I pulled out my first batch of dahlia tubers this week and have started potting them up.

A favorite for weddings is the Cafe Au Lait Dahlia, and I am so looking forward to growing this beauty again this year. While the blooms are not dinner plate size, but they are large- a good 6-8" in diameter.

It was great to have it for several weddings last year, and I am looking forward to using it again this August and September!

Another favorite dahlia of mine is Snoho Doris.This is a ball variety with petals that are peachy pink. It pairs well with blush as well as stronger orange hues. It should start blooming in August and hopefully will keep it up through late October!

Garden Flowers for Spring and Summer Weddings- Chantilly Snapdragons

Every day brings us one day closer to spring! Even with the very cold weather I am already seeing signs. Here's another flower that will be blooming soon at Springwell Gardens- Chantilly Snapdragons!

This type of snapdragon has a lovely open face with delicate petals that face. Chantilly Snapdragons come in an array of soft pastel colors such as pink and peach and light yellow.

I grow this variety with winter protection. The blooms start up in late March along with ranunculus, poppies, and anemones as shown in the design above.

 It continues to bloom through early summer and looks great with zinnias, yarrow and feverfew.

I am looking forward to using it for my May and June weddings!

Summer Dahlias and Zinnias

We have had the summer rains this year, so there are lots of summer flowers. Here's some of the flowers blooming now at Springwell Gardens: Audray Pink Gomphrena, Burgundy Crested Celosia, Queen Red Lime Zinnias, Karma Dahlias, and Centaurea Colchester White

And here they are in a summery bouquet. Other flowers include Fireworks Gomphrena, Mountain Mint, Blue Ageratum, Smilax Vine, Summer Phlox and Love-in-a-Puff.

Most of these flowers will continue to bloom until frost. I have some autumn weddings that

will feature several of these beauties. Cafe Au Lait and Chilson Pride Dahlias are starting

to crank up which will be great for my brides that want a softer color palette.

Pink Zinnias and Gomphrena for Summer Weddings

Zinnias are one of my favorite summertime wedding flowers, so I am thrilled when the brides that I meet with like them too!  The color for this summer has been pink.

I had the chance to use them last week for Kitty and Lofton's wedding, and will be using them again this weekend for Valerie and Matt.

Here they are in a bouquet from earlier in the season other flowers from the garden- Queen Ann's Lace, pink gomphrena, blue ageratum, bunny tails and mountain mint. Can't wait to show them paired up with dahlias next week!

Lantern Centerpiece Design for All Seasons

Lanterns continue to be a great design feature for wedding receptions. There are lots of ways to dress them up with and without flowers.  Here is one of my takes on lantern centerpiece designs.

It features a low wooden box in which the lantern is centered, then surrounded by seasonal flowers, foliage material and moss.

It's a great design that sits low enough on the table for guests to enjoy one another's company without the centerpiece blocking their view.

Flower choices change with the seasons. This design features summer flowers such as monarda, gomphrena, feverfew, zinnias, and succulents.

Chantilly Snapdragons and Zinnia Bouquet for Early Summer Weddings

The garden beds continue to change as the summer season moves forward. It's time to say goodbye to Chantilly Snapdragons (for awhile)

They starting blooming in April and continued for a solid two months. This fall I will do two plantings about four weeks apart to see if I can get some later blooms.

They looked great with spring blooms like ranunculus and anemones, but they also work well with summer flowers.
The bouquet below features a pastel palette of Chantilly snapdragons with zinnias, feverfew, and laceflower (orlaya), and yarrow.

It's great to have flowers that transition from one season to another. I have several brides who are looking forward to seeing these blooms in their spring and summer wedding designs!

Peach Garden Roses and Silver Brunia Berries for Hilary and Gordon

I am so excited to share some beautiful images of Hilary's and Gordon's wedding captured by the talented husband and wife team- Brett & Jessica.

This mid-September wedding took place in a sweet rustic setting right outside Raleigh called The Little Herb House. It's such a charming venue- lovely open meadows for outdoor ceremonies, a formal herb garden, and a HUGE BARN that is just perfect for all sorts of celebrating!

Hilary's colors palette included soft peaches and corals and ivories with touches of dusty grays and silvery green. Her flowers included Juliet Garden roses, blush Sahara roses, Brunia Berries and sedum.

The bridesmaids carried bouquets of whites hydrangeas and lisianthus with seeded eucalyptus and a bright pop of raspberry pink alstromeria.
Jessica's bouquet was wrapped in burlap and lace.

Moms carried posies of Majolica spray roses, lisianthus and fragrant leaves of scented geranium.

Gordon's boutonniere featured white Majolica spray roses, brunia berries, sedum and Dusty Miller.

Their wedding was featured in a January post on Bridal Musings. Be sure to check it out to see all the great details of a very sweet wedding!

Love-in-a-Puff Vine for Summer Weddings

Seeds have been sown for late spring blooming plants, and now it's time to start focusing on summer plants.

One that always has a special place at Springwell Gardens is Love-in-a-Puff- cardiospermum halicacabum, (see previous posts from past summers). It's a summer vine with LOTS of delicate tendrils and billowy little puffs that add a lovely rustic

drape and texture to centerpiece and ceremony designs.

But what is really irresistible is using Love-in-a-Puff in bridal bouquets,

for inside each of the puffs are tiny heart impressed seeds

 Love-in-a-Puff is available at Springwell Gardens from late May until frost.
 I always encourage my brides to save the dried puffs from their bouquets and remove the seeds. They make a romantic little keepsake, or can be planted later to grow your own Love-in-a-Puff vines!

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!