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!

Foxglove for Beautiful Bouquets and Centerpiece Designs

Foxglove is such a regal flower in the garden and also in wedding designs.

Some varieties can produce flower spikes that are up to five feet.  Here at Springwell Gardens, the shorter varieties such as Camelot and Dalmation are grown.

These plants usually top out at 3 to 3 1/2 foot with about two foot of the stem covered in beautiful bell shaped flowers.

Foxgloves will be available in raspberry pink, lavender, white and peach from mid April through mid June. The tall spires make a lovely statement in ceremony and centerpiece designs.

And the side lateral stems which are much shorter are great for wedding bouquet designs. 

Summer Flowers- Bright Corals and Yellows with a Touch of Blue

The warm hues of summer flowers are cranking up in the garden- There are two varieties of Black-eyed Susan- Indian Summers and Goldilocks, coral and red zinnias, and some late flushes of feverfew.
There are still lateral stems of foxglove and Ammi blooming as well, and a small crop of Mountain Mint. I thought this arrangement looked so cheery, but afterwards I found some Delphinium stems I had meant to include as well...
So here is the same design with punches of blue... it really changes it up a bit, don't you think?
Next year there will be more Mountain Mint. It's a plant that I have loved for years, but lost a few seasons ago. I was thrilled to find it last year at the Farmer's Market in Raleigh. The botanical name is Pycnanthemum spp. To read more about it go: Beautiful Wildlife Garden
I love this soft green filler! It looks beautiful in floral design work and smells wonderful too!

Summertime at Springwell Gardens

Well here it comes! Summer that is... I hear that we will be hitting the 90's tomorrow. I am trying to be upbeat about it since we have had such a mild start.
The garden beds have been doing very well. It has been so much easier with the new raised beds. I have been very pleased, and I am hopeful that the flowers will continue to perform well, even with the added heat.
Camelot Foxglove (see picture below) is still providing some lovely lateral spires. I have a wedding next weekend and would love to add these to the ceremony designs.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) is starting to crank up- see picture below. Next year, I am just going to put a few plants into the mixed borders instead of one of the beds. They offer loads of flowers, but I could use more purples, plums and pinks and less golds and yellows.
One of several new additions to the garden has been Queen Ann's Lace (Ammi- See picture below). I am hoping this one keeps going for at least another week or so. We'll see- since I understand it likes the cooler weather.
Another newbie is Chinese Delphinium- Wow! just love the color. I believe this one will also melt with the warmer temperature, but I sure have enjoyed it, and plan to have more next year!

Needless to say, it's all about the flowers for me, but we also have a small patch for veggies too. Wilson is growing cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. We both have our eyes on these big boys, and plan to invite them to supper SOON!

Pink Gerber Daisies for Susan and David

May has been such a pleasant month for weddings! I know we've had some extra warm days here and there and some very rainy days, but overall, this skies have been blue, the air has been refreshing and everything stills looks so fresh- almost glowing.
So I can see why couples choose this time of year for weddings. And today was the DAY that David and Susan chose for their Wedding Day!
Susan loves pink- bright, hot pink with touches of soft pink. Some of her favorite flowers are Gerber Daisies, but she's fond of lots of others too!
So of course the color palette was full of hot pinks- cerise, fuchsia, raspberry and soft apple blosssom pink. Other flowers included stock, carnations and daisy mums,  and I think she agreed with me that soft pink Majolica spray roses would look lovely too.
For the men- the boutonnieres were designed with white roses and and a sprig of freesia for David.
All the flowers looked perfect when I picked them up from the wholesaler, and it was great to have gatherings from the garden too- such as pink hydrangeas, creamy foxglove, pink larkspur and yarrow, and dainty white feverfew.
So glad I was able to see Susan briefly and know that she was delighted with her flowers.
And so begins the new chapter of husband and wife- Praying God's blessing for Susan and David as they start their married life!!!

Yellow Poppies and Blue Nigella for Katie's Bridal Shower

In just three weeks, Katie will be getting married. It's hard to believe!

Another little girl that I have had the privilege of watching grow up into a beautiful young woman. And I am so happy for her as she gets ready for her special day.
so yesterday was her bridal shower...
And the perfect opportunity to put together this springtime centerpiece from the garden. While the color palette for her wedding will have bolder shades, I thought these softer hues would be lovely for her shower- silvery Lamb's Ear and Dusty Miller, Green Spice Heuchera, blue Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella), pale yellow poppies, yarrow, and ivory Foxglove.

And in a few more weeks it will be time to do the wedding flowers!

Garden Delights- Peonies and Foxglove

The month of May has made a steamy arrival! Not the best weather for flowering plants that want it just a little bit cooler- especially the peonies. I think they are going to be a memory in about a week.
So enjoy them NOW! Cut the flowers in the morning before the heat arrives- ideally before the blooms are fully opened. They will reward you with their beauty and fragrance for about 4 to 5 days.A wonderful foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) called "Camelot" has been showing up in garden centers for the past couple of years. Long spires of speckled bells in ivory, raspberry pink and lavender light up the landscape and look STUNNING in floral designs as the one above. Other flowers in this design include Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella), Larkspur, and Fairy roses.
Foxglove can be grown from seed in the late summer. Johnny's Selected Seeds
( http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ ) offers this selection as pelleted seed which makes sowing them much easier. I will try to put up a " how to" post in August.

Springwell Gardens

Today I want to SHOW you Springwell Gardens!

This is our little bit of earth in downtown Cary, NC, where I grow flowers for WEDDINGS and Wilson grows vegetables to EAT.
When we moved to this home in OLD Cary, (where you can still put up clotheslines and do what you want to with your yard), we decided to make garden beds. Some trees were removed and a few beds went in. Over the years we have added to them- Wilson says that I am always changing things around, and he's right!
This year we decided to really try to neaten the area up a bit. So I cleared out the middle of a HUGE garden bed, put out edging stones and mulch, and Wilson made three raised garden beds for cut flowers that were placed within this area (see picture above). We also have some raised beds further back as well.
And wherever I can squeeze them in- there are other flower beds and borders as well. I am so excited to be able to offer brides more and more "garden wedding flowers".
The picture above shows some of what's blooming now- foxglove and dianthus. And in the bed pictured below are coral and salmon-rose zinnias that should be blooming in time for Dominique and Javier's wedding in late May. I started these plants from seeds just for their wedding.
I hope to have feverfew and yellow yarrow blooming for Katie in early June as well as scented geraniums- she loves the fragrance, and Susan is looking forward to white zinnias and Snow on the Mountain Euphorbia for her late June wedding- they're just baby plants now, oh but they're growing!!
I hope to post about what's blooming throughout the season, and give you peaks of the garden beds as they change.

Autumn Treasures from the Garden- Looking Back

Here are some of the last blooms from my gardens. The flowers above are ones that I picked and arranged around the end of October. After I had gathered them, I began to pull the plants down. It's hard to believe another season is over.
The zinnias performed very well. I left a couple of plants just so I could pick a few more flowers. The speckled bells of foxglove were a lovely surprise in the fall garden. These are late spring bloomers that bring a vintage look to floral designs. The Black and Blue salvia put on a beautiful show with their cobalt blue flowers. Next year I plan to cut them back in late July to see if I can get shorter, bushier plants. I will also cut back and fertilize the dahlias around the same time to see if they will produce more abundantly on shorter plants.
The yellow buttons are Tansy and the pink quill like flowers are Fireworks gomphrena. I plan to make sure both of these will be back next year.
All of these flowers would be wonderful additions to vintage or garden themed wedding flowers.
And  I was very pleased that several of my brides wanted to use garden flowers in their wedding designs. I always hope that someday this may inspire them to grow flower gardens of their own! I would love to help them if they decide to do so!

New Blooms in the Garden

In the garden, the flowers are always changing. My beautiful larkspur has given its spot up to celosia, (the flowers will be coming soon) and Purple coneflowers (echinacea) are showing up in my garden borders. The bold flowers have bright orange disks and soft pink or magenta petals. Foxglove continues to offer me shorter floral spires of lavender, yellow and raspberry pink. Round globes of pink and purple gomphrena are starting to pop out- they should be around for the rest of the summer and into the fall.
It was such a treat to bring these flowers together in the above centerpiece designs for Emily's bridal shower the other week. They paired well with the last of the larkspur, peach colored yarrow, Neon dianthus and Babe orange spray roses. The navy blue ribbon bands sported fresh pink gomphrena buttons.
Praying God's blessing for Richard and Emily as they will soon join their lives together as husband and wife!

Summer Bouquet- Zinnias, Nigella, and More...

The nigella (the common name is Love-in-a-Mist) started blooming around early May, and in mid May was followed by zinnias (one of my Favorite flowers-see the post "My Wedding"). Then there were the calla lilies and the Fairy Roses and yarrow and the foxglove. Whew... everyday the garden has been changing. So I wanted to work up some designs that featured late spring/early summer flowers.
These sweet little flowers are called Love-in-a-Mist because of all the fern-like wisps that surround the sky blue petals. Nigella also comes in pinks and whites, but blue has been the one that reseeds in my gardens for years. The green centers of the flowers eventually turn into little fat pods with whiskers. I sometimes cut the whiskers off. And those pods are full of seeds that can be planted in mid to late September, and after that you'll have Love-in-a-Mist come back every year!
These flowers are just made for each other. Pink zinnias, foxglove, yarrow and Fairy Rose mingled with the soft blues of nigella and lavender. I would love it if they would all stay around for the summer, but here in the South, the nigella, lavender and yarrow will soon be gone. The Fairy Rose will bloom slightly during the heat, but will put on a better show in early fall. I am soooo thankful for the zinnias... keep them watered and they will bloom like crazy all summer long.
I guess I'll settle for zinnias for now. Oh yes, and the celosia and hydrangeas and gomphrena and coneflowers and the dahlias. Summer is coming FAST....