In Memory - Farewell flowers, Curry and Dancing
What do Flower farmers do in winter?

Growing your own flowers for DIY weddings

Into my inbox last week dropped a plea

"I am desperate to buy the correct plants/seeds to grow this year so I can use them for the table decorations at my sons wedding, at the end of September.

I have said I will make the flower arrangements to save them (and me ) money.

The reception is in an old barn and they are just having a hog roast but they would like some jars/bottles with a wild flower look/arranglement on the tables and they have said they want 36!!"

So here's my ideas of what to grow if you're looking to fill jam jars for any table event.

Row of bottles (1 of 1)

 

First, - if the wedding is in September, - phew, you've got plenty of time to plan. Don't start too early. You've got a month to 6 weeks before you need to be planting and seed sowing, so make sure that you've got your ideas and plans together. You can use the downtime to make sure you've got everything ordered, and know when and where to plant.

Second - Make sure it's not just flowers that you're growing. - Every display needs fillers and foliage. Have you got shrubs growing in your garden that are suitable? - or will you need to grow those as well?

Third - what do they mean by wildflowers? - actually a lot of "wildflower" looks are created by very cultivated flowers (Maybe country flowers would be a better term) - When we work with brides, we create Pinterest boards to get together styles that they like and make sure that we're working along the same lines. - At the very least go through some gardening and wedding catalogs and see if they have some pictures that they like the look of. Wildflowers are often at their height in spring and summer, by Autumn, it's over to grasses, - so actual wildflowers may be difficult to grow for September

Then you need to think of colours. - September is coming into Autumn, so the colours tend to be getting brighter. - Reds, oranges and bright pinks and purples are September colours, so if you want softer pastel tones, you may need to work harder.

However this correspondant told me

"The bride has asked for white/pink and deep purple colours."

So here are my top 3 varieties to be grown for these jam jar vases

Ammi

Ammi and scabious-1

The best late summer fillers in that colour scheme are Ammi Visnaga and Daucus Carota. Ammi with it's domed White head will be a great addition to these vases, and a late sowing in April of Ammi will be flowering wonderfully in September.

Cosmos

Cosmos sweet sixteen-1

At their best in September, Cosmos are the cut and come again Queens. - This one Sweet sixteen is a lovely frothy "wild" variety, and they are easy to sow and raise to flowering.

and

Clary sage- brilliant colour bracts, in purples, whites and pinks are just made for being a fantastic filler in jam jar posies. - Easy to grow from seeds, this is a winner

Clary sage-1

For each jam jar, you'll need between 7 and 15 stems (depending on the neck width of the bottle) so bear that in mind when you're working out how many flowers you'll need. (in the top picture there were 7 or 9 stems in each jar)

Or alternatively you can leave the growing and picking and conditioning of the flowers to us, and you can order our DIY boxes. - 6 bunches of flowers and 6 bunches of fillers, all themed to your colours, for £60. Enough to do between and 6 and 12 bottles each box.

 

 

 

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